Spring Ball
by rallybabe89
Summary: Starts in the Spring when the Kuchiki's hold the annual Spring Ball.What happens when a mysterious women becomes a taicho? A new threat wants to kidnap a girl, who is believed to be Orihime, it is up to the Shinigami to protect her.
1. Preparations and meetings

**Disclaimer: rallybabe89 does not own Bleach or any characters. **

**A/N: **This is a rewrite. Because this was my first fanfiction, I needed to go back and check for mistakes.

If you've read this before then let me just tell you there's no big change, just my writing style.

For now the story will be the same but I might add a few details so that I can get along with my story.

* * *

The first day of spring brings multiple things to Soul Society. Along with the blooming Cherry Blossoms, spring brings the Kuchiki family busy days and nights preparing for their annual Spring Nobel Ball.

Once every year at the beginning of spring, the Kuchiki clan holds a ball inviting the other four noble families. For Soul Society, the ball means a chance to celebrate and enjoy. For the nobles, it means a chance to introduce the new generation of nobles to be wed.

The Kuchiki household was bustling with activity this morning. Judging by the list there was a lot to do. From gathering the proper furniture, ordering the catering and picking out the decorations, everything was to be handled by a clan member. This year though everything was going to even more extraordinary then before. Of course the ball was not mandatory but that didn't mean that people would not come. This year there would be even more members attending than ever before. More members meant more rietsu which meant that more security would be needed to protect them. Whatever the case was the Kuchiki clan needed to be prepared to host the biggest bash of the year.

Outside a young raven haired Shinigami ran through the estate, " Excuse me have you seen Nii-sama?"

"Rukia-chan, you of all people should know that Kuchiki-sama spends the first day of Spring under his favorite cherry blossom tree," replied one elder.

Byakuya Kuchiki's adopted sister bowed to the elder then ran off to her brother's garden.

**xXx**

Far off in his garden sat a handsome man wearing a stoic expression on his face with his eyes glassy with memories. His usual Shinigami uniform was wrapped around him while his zanpaktou had taken a place at his side.

Closing his eyes he heard his zanpaktou's spirit addressing him.

" We come here every year and relive the memories Hisana left us, but Byakuya we both know that she had requested two things on her deathbed, one of which we have already fulfilled. Shouldn't we be working on her second request?_" _ asked Senbonzakura.

"Senbonzakura, I know I made Hisana two promises that day but you and I both know it'll be impossible for me to fulfill the second wish. Hisana knew I would never be able to fulfill it. There's no way I can or even want to._" _Byakuya told his Zanpaktou.

Byakuya was lost in his silent conversation with Senbonzakura that he hadn't realized how long he had been sitting underneath the pink covered tree. Sensing his adopted sister's rietsu approach him, he once again sat up and regained his cold standard pose.

As he stood up to meet his sister, Rukia initiated the conversation.

"Nii-sama_", _said Rukia, "the elders are holding a meeting in an hour's time and sent me down here to find you. They would like to discuss something important with you."

"Arigato Rukia-chan, I will go down and meet them right now_." _ Said Rukia's older brother without any emotion in his voice.

After the incident with Aizen, the two siblings were closer. Byakuya had realized that his Hisana would not want him to be so cold toward her sister. Although he wasn't as expressive as he could be, Byakuya had made an improvement. He was less cold towards her and she was able to hold a conversation with him without the fear of his hatred.

"Nii-sama, are youalright_?"_ Rukia asked knowing how sad this day was for her brother.

"Yes, Rukia-chan I am fine. I shall meet you at the family lunch after I am done with my meeting with the elders,_" _said Byakuya. With that said, they parted ways. Rukia ran out to help some of the planners, where as Byakuya silently walked to where the elders would hold the meeting.

"I wonder what they want to discuss now. We had spent nearly the past three weeks preparing for this ball. Certainly it must be important if they need to talk to me three days before the ball,_" _thought Byakuya to himself.

* * *

"What do you mean you enlisted us to help you_?," _ screamed two young men in unison.

One of the young men was incredibly noticeable with spiky orange hair and eyes that invoked the desire to stare deeply and gave proof that he was a sweet and soft soul, while the other was a rough heavily tattooed redhead with a scorn now plastered onto his face with equal innocence and goodness about him.

"Rukia, you know neither of us are nobles. We can't really attend the ball. How the hell are we supposed to be there?_"_ asked the redhead man named Renji.

"WellRenji apparently you didn't listen to me when I explained the job. Shall I pull out my sketch pad and draw it out for you?" Rukia stated.

"No don't draw. It'll only make me more stupid if you draw_," _exclaimed Ichigo, the young man with the orange hair.

"Yo dumbass I happen to like those drawings. Rukia, they are very helpful," said Renji to his girlfriend while smacking Ichigo on the back of his head. Ichigo dreaded the idea of having Rukia sketch an explanation. She maybe a talented Shinigami but she was an awful artist. Her drawings normally consisted of bunnies and other animals.

Rukia had just told the two teens as well as Renji that they were required to attend and help during the Spring Ball.

"I really don't care whether or not you guys want to do this. Remember I am not asking you as your friend, I am ordering you as a member of the Kuchiki clan. You both must show up along with the rest of the Shinigami to help protect the members of the four clans. From now on you must listen to every word I say_," _screamed Rukia, making it known that they had no option in helping her.

She now turned to face Renji and asked "Renji I was wondering if you would come shopping with me to help me pick out outfits for the ball. I know you won't be able to attend it side by side with me until we talk to Nii-sama but I would still like for your help."

Ichigo smirked to himself and thought, "Wow she's really nice around him. I guess they really do make each other better. I wish I had the guts to ask Inoue out. I haven't even spoken to her in the past two weeks that I have been here."

Ichigo had returned to Soul Society two weeks ago when Shigekuni Yamamoto-Genryursai taicho ordered him to reside in Soul Society while the Spring Noble Ball was occurring. After defeating Aizen, the real world seemed very boring. The Shinigami who came as exchange students or new classmates now left the school, erasing the memories of those they had became friends with.

As for Ichigo and his friends; Orihime Inoue, Yasutora Sado (Chad) and Uryuu Ishida, they had all gotten used to the fact Ichigo was going to keep bouncing back and forth from the real world to Soul Society.

"A lot has happened to me and my friends, but one thing is for sure," he thought, "we will always be together no matter what."

"Hey Ichigo, where the hell are you lost? You thinking about Orihime? Snap back to life, Rukia and I are heading out. We'll meet you at the planning meeting in half an hour,_"_ said Renji while nearly beating Ichigo out of his thoughts.

* * *

Byakuya waited in the meeting room for the clan elders to begin the meeting. He noticed that the Commander-General was there as well. Whatever they wanted to discuss had to be big, especially if Yamamoto taicho was also present.

Byakuya was nervous but as usual he held his calm countenance. Some would say that he was incapable of feeling but that was not true. He did feel but chose not to express his feelings.

Soul Society also knew that he was willing to do anything to keep order and follow laws, even if it meant not following his heart. This was true looking at past events and noting that he had fought hard to follow the order and had even tried to murder his own sister, Rukia. He had been wild and would have allowed his sister to die if it hadn't been for Ichigo and Renji fighting hard to save her. He didn't want her to suffer but he was confused at that time between following his heart and following the law. It went without saying that Ichigo taught Byakuya that he should have fought hard to change laws such as those. Byakuya took this to heart, letting his sister and Renji escape his sight and head on to Hueco Mundo.

Waiting for the meeting to begin, Byakuya was getting more nervous by the minute but as usual failed to show it.

Byakuya was definitely a different man since Hisana's death. His face was always void of affection and his posture was always cold and never comforting. But those who knew him before Hisana's departure were the ones who knew the true Byakuya. The man who would battle with his friends ruthlessly until he finally won, the man who would train hard day and night to become of some value in his clans eyes. After his parent's death, Byakuya was trained by his grandfather to become the leader of the Kuchiki Clan. Now Byakuya wondered whether he was summoned here to this meeting because he failed at performing his duties or if it was something else.

As the elders approached their seats at the front of the room, Byakuya could see Yamamoto-taicho also being present. Surely this had to be very important if the elders had asked the captain of the first squad to come down to talk to Byakuya.

As the tension in the room thickened Byakuya still had that calm composure on his face. Everyone in Seireitei knew that Byakuya was always calm, or at least looked calm. They also knew that he was willing to do anything to keep order and follow laws, even if it meant not following his heart. This was true looking at past events and noting that he had fought hard to follow the order that had even tried to murder his own sister, Rukia. He had been wild and would have allowed his sister to die if it hadn't been for Ichigo and Renji fighting hard to save her.

As he sat there Byakuya's mind thought very little and waited for his meeting with the Elders to begin.


	2. Hisana

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. I wish I could own Byakuya or Uryuu but I don't. It's my first fanfiction so please be nice. I took a lot of my ideas from random pieces I read so if this sounds like yours let me know I'll give you credit or if you want I'll take that part out.**

* * *

Renji and Rukia had finally gotten together after defeating the Arrancar and Aizen. Poor Renji was terrified to ask Rukia out in the past because he knew that Byakuya was always keeping an eye on her and probably didn't want her to go out with a non-noble. 

----------------------------------------------------FLASHBACK---------------------------------------------------------

Sparks of rietsu flew in all directions the center point being the far off cliff that Renji and Rukia had been training on. "_Hey Rukia"_ yelled Renji while barely missing an attack from Rukia.

_"Renji,__ you should know that talking while sparring only makes you weaker and you get hit with such easy to avoid attacks like that one," _said Rukia while trying to hit Renji again.

_"No,__ seriously Rukia, I need to talk to you. Let's stop for a moment"_ said Renji with a slight tone of desperation in his voice.

Rukia had noticed this tone and instantly withdrew her Zanpaktou. She knew Renji since they were kids back in Rukongai. Renji wasn't one to stop during a spar. "_Renji, what's up? What did you need to talk to me about? You look a bit serious,"_ said Rukia as she walked over to Renji, who now sat on the edge of the cliff.

_"Rukia, t__he past couple of years have made me think about my future. There were so many times when I thought I would lose you. I've known you since we were little. The day you were adopted into the Kuchiki clan I cried for a long time wondering if I would ever see you again. I thought our friendship and path together had ended. I knew that in order to see you again I would have to be a stronger person. I trained day and night to get into the Gotei 13. __I made it onto Byakuya taicho's squad and became his Fukutaicho. __I thought finally we could be close again. But then I almost lost you by following rules and nearly allowing you to get executed. It took me a while but I finally found the courage to confront your brother and trying to save you. Rukia I know that you are a noble and I am an ordinary Shinigami. I want to know if you wou__ld consider being my girlf-__" _he was stopped by a pair of soft lips being pressed against him and a pair of arms holding him tightly.

It took him a few seconds to realize that Rukia had agreed without saying a single word to be his girlfriend. Rukia knew that Renji was going to ask her to be his girlfriend, she had thrown herself at him and passionately kissed and hugged him. Renji felt Rukia's hand creep into his hair and pull him closer while he added more passion into their kiss. When they finally broke off Renji put his arm around her waist and smiled softly while reaching in to kiss her forehead. A small tear escaped his eye as he now knew that he would never have to leave Rukia, as long as she loved him.

------------------------------------------END FLASHBACK-------------------------------------------

It was well after lunch and Byakuya was still in the meeting with the elder so everyone had lunch without him. Ichigo ran off to find the other taichos and to run away from Zaraki Kenpachi trying to kill him. Meanwhile Renji and Rukia were on the cliff where Renji first asked Rukia to go out with him.

_"Rukia," _said Renji softly, "_don't you think we should let taicho know about us? If he found out some other way he'll be ready to kill me." _Rukia chuckled and dug her head deeper into her boyfriend's chest.

"_I guess you're right. We need to tell Nii-sama but how? I mean we have kept this a secret for nearly three months and no one besides Ichigo knows about us. How do we tell Nii-sama without telling him how long we have been together?" _Rukia questioned.

Renji put his fingers under Rukia's chin and pushed her head softly to meet his eyes and said "_Rukia I can't keep meeting you on the sly. I think we should tell him before the ball. I want to be the only man you dance with." _

_"O__ Renji that's so sweet! Wait…you know how to dance? This isn't some teenage club dance. It's a noble ball. We dance the waltz and fancy dances like that," _stated Rukia with some disbelief in her voice.

Renji looked disheartened that his girlfriend didn't believe her and then smiled "_You__ really do underestimate me Rukia. I learned how to waltz from Urahara when I stayed at his place in the human world. He kind of tricked me into learning it. He and Jinta were playing around and told me it was training. Urahara told me I needed to work on my balance and that this was the easiest way to do so. Although I knew it was a dance I did agree to it, knowing that I might actually have to know it one day. But it also did help improve my balance." _

Rukia suppressed a laugh knowing that Renji was obviously proud of learning how to waltz. _"Well Renji if you're so good at the waltz then prove it to me," _teased Rukia.

Renji stood up abruptly and grabbed her by the waist and pulled her close to him. As the sun set behind them they waltzed till they were required at the Kuchiki estate.

_

* * *

" Kuchiki Byakuya, we have asked you to meet__with us today after much__thought and consideration. Yamamoto Taicho and the rest of the elders deem it necessary you listen and follow our demand. Kuchiki sama as you know you are the head of the clan and the captain of the 6__th__ squad. As th__e__ head of the clan you know that you are very powerful and contain a high amount of rietsu. Byakuya sama as the record keeper you should also know that the clan's high form of nobility and rietsu are passed down by heirs."_ The elder paused to let this fact sink into Byakuya. 

_"I know where this is going"_ thought Byakuya.

The elder continued to speak, "_The elders of our clan and taicho Yamamoto have taken into consideration your pain and loss over Hisana, but that was over 60 years ago. It is time to move on Byakuya and fulfill__you__r__ duties as head of the clan," _said the elder now letting Yamamoto continue. _"Byakuya __taicho you__ must marry before the end of next year or else we will assign someone else as head of the clan. We have decided to let you chose your wife although we have set some rules. She must be a noble, so the rietsus' will pass down, and she must be able to produce an heir. You might want to take __advantage of the Spring Noble ball and look at some of the prospective young ladies. Byakuya, you must end your self__-__ suffering and follow our demand."_

Byakuya sat still and did not respond. He simply excused himself and headed out the door. It had started to rain while Byakuya was in the meeting. He walked through the rain avoiding his girl fans and holding on tightly to his zanpaktou. Byakuya came to a halt and now sat in front of his wife's grave. Thankfully it was raining or else someone might have seen the tears flowing from Byakuya's face.

-------------------------------------------------------FLASHBACK---------------------------------------------------

_"Hisana you know I can never love anyone besides you. How can you ask me to do something like this? I will follow your first request and bring Rukia to live with me as my sister but please I beg of you not to ask me to do the second task." _Byakuya held his dying wife's hand while pleading her to give up on her second dying wish.

_"Byakuya-__sama__I have loved you with every fiber of my being and I know you have done the same for me. I know that you will not remarry or fall in love unless I release you from our bond. Byakuya__ I wish that you will remarry and live a happy and complete married life. I know I may not have been the best wife but please do not hold yourself back for me. I am dying and I wish for you to live. Live with happiness and laughter," _said Hisana.

Byakuya leaned in and gave his wife a kiss. He wrapped his arms around her and silently cried his heart apart. Hisana knew he didn't want to show his tears and softly laid her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. Byakuya laid her down thinking she fell asleep. He kissed her on the cheek and got up to leave. Hisana never opened her eyes again.

------------------------------------------END OF FLASHBACK-----------------------------------------------------------------------

As the tears fell down Byakuya's face, he was covered by the rain allowing no one to see the emotion that his heart poured out. _" Hisana, it seems that even the clan requires me to keep your dying wish. Truly, I love you but did not want to give your place to someone else. But I must I suppose to keep my prom__ise to you and to keep my title. Please forgive me for giving your rightful place as my wife to someone else." _

_"Byakuya__ you know that Hisana wanted you to be happy. You know that she wished for you to remarry and start a family to allow the Kuchiki clan to survive. You must not cry or break down. Remember you still have to take care of Rukia and your responsibilities as head of the clan," s_aid Senbonzakura. Byakuya mustered up some courage to thank Senbonzakura and silently left to over look the preparations for the ball, after all he had to now find a suitable spouse that was noble enough to become the wife of the Head of the Kuchiki clan.

* * *

After meeting his friends in Soul Society, Ichigo was waiting for the rest of the guys to come for the preparation meeting for at least 15 minutes. 

_"God, I thought nobles were supposed to be on time. Why are they so late? What the hell, I could have had something important to do- although I really have no reason to be here and have nothing else to do. Wow the last time I was here on the Kuchiki estate I was with Orihime. I wished she could be here so I could hang out with her __under the cherry blossom trees__"__Ichigo's_ thoughts were interrupted by a maid who looked stunned to see someone in the meeting room.

_"__G__omensai but what are you doing here sir?_"asked the maid. Ichigo replied "_well I was told to come here __for the Ball preparation meeting but there's no one here." "well sir the meeting is not being held here. It is __in the dining hall meeting room," _said the maid. _"O shit man. Thanks,"_ exclaimed Ichigo on his way out the door.

* * *

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So how is it? Once again reviews, flames, anything or nothing. i guess.


	3. The bunny with Miss Lavender eyes

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. I wish I could own Byakuya or Uryuu but I don't. It's my first fanfiction so please be nice. I took a lot of my ideas from random pieces I read so if this sounds like yours let me know I'll give you credit or if you want I'll take that part out.**

* * *

"_Where is Ichigo?"_ thought Rukia. "_That baka! I told him not to be late. The nobles do not tolerate lateness."_ The door threw open and there stood the fire haired teen grasping for breather. He gently bowed to the nobles and taichos without much respect and found a seat next to Hitsugaya taicho who had grown a fair amount in height was was as tall as Ichigo. 

"_So what have I missed so far?"_ asked Ichigo to the young prodigy.

"_Nothing. They were discussing some things amongst themselves and are giving us taichos and Shinigami the cold shoulder for now_," grunted the Ice Prince, Hitsugaya. He hated being treated like trash by the nobles but was patient, partly because he didn't want to be seen as an impatient child.

The youngest taicho was indeed very patient compared to the rest of the Gotei 13. Zaraki Kenpachi was asleep, standing up, while Retsu Unohana fiddled with her hair. Soi Fon was glaring at the floor trying to figure out why the hell she was needed here. The rest of the taichos were nearly asleep. Ichigo searched for a short pink hair fukutaicho who was the reason he was late.

-----------------------------------------------------FLASHBACK----------------------------------------

"_Ichigo!"_ screamed a high pitched girl.

"_Hey Yachiru_" replied Ichigo while trying to peel off the little girl from his eyes.

"_Where are you going Berry boy? The meeting's not in this place, silly. It's over there,"_ pointing away from the heavily decorated meeting house, towards a deserted looking shack.

Ichigo looked at her with disbelief but then she dragged him into the meeting room so he decided to stay. She left him and said _"I'm going to find Ken-chan and bring him here too."_

-------------------------------------------END FLASHBACK-----------------------------------------------------------

Ichigo got up and went over to the little ball of pink and asked her why she sent him to the wrong place. She simply replied, _"O Berry boy, I was trying to test you. You failed because it took you so long to figure out the meeting wasn't there."_

Ichigo wanted to shake the smirk off the little girl by noticed a shadow over him. He looked p to find Zaraki Kenpachi staring down on him. Ichigo looked at Kenpachi's only visible eye and swore he could still see the intention to kill Ichigo.

"_Ah, Kurosaki Ichigo! I see you are still alive. You know fate must have it that I am to be the cause of your death,"_ laughed Kenpachi.

"_Uh hum_," the nobles cleared their throat demoing attention. Ichigo escaped from Kenpachi's grasp and sat back down next to Toushiro. "_Now that we are all settled, we shall begin to explain the necessary procedures to the Shinigami helping the Four Noble clans of Soul Society. We will need you complete cooperation during the next seven days of the ball. In addition, this year we will have a new part to the Ball. This year the taichos and fukutaichos of the Gotei 13 are invited to be guests because of their part in protecting all of Soul Society_," continued the eldest noble. This last part surprised many of the Gotei who thought they were just needed for security. Renji smiled at Rukia- this would allow him to dance with her.

The meeting with the Noble families and the Gotei 13 was basically an overview about the Noble Ball. One of the things discussed to a great extent was security. All the taichos and fukutaicho were required to be present at the Ball. The remainder of the Gotei was needed for security in Seireitei and the real world.

--------------------LATER THAT DAY-----------------

"_Wow, that meeting was intense. Those nobles are real boring and create a tension, don't they?"_ said Ichigo.

Rukia, who was walking behind him took offense to the statement and punched him in the back.

"_Ow, what the hell was that for?_" remarked Ichigo while rubbing his arm,

"_You baka, you keep forgetting that I am a noble and so is my brother,"_ stated Rukia angrily.

They walked together for a while until they parted ways and each headed home. Ichigo was staying with Renji for his time at Soul Society, even though he was appointed the Taicho for the third squad.

"_Hey Renji, have you and Rukia talked to Byakuya about your relationship yet?_" asked Ichigo while raising his arms and resting them on the back of his head. (I love it when guys do that…It makes them so hot. Lol.jk)

"_Nah, we didn't get the time today; but I will before the ball. I even bought formal robes and a gift for her,"_ replied Renji.

"_That's cool. You guys sure seem happy together. I wish Orihime was here for the ball_," Ichigo sighed.

"_Baka, of course we're happy. We love each other and are together. You need to tell Orihime-san about your feelings_."

* * *

During the next couple of days the clans showed up. They began settling in at the Kuchiki estate. There was a lot of noise and movement now compared to the normal peace and quiet that was the Kuchiki estate. 

Byakuya was unreasonably quite and did not care nor did he interrupt with the Ball. As Byakuya sat in his room reading some official papers, he felt the rietsus of Rukia and Renji approach.

"_Come in Rukia-san and Fukutaicho Renji_," ordered Byakuya before they knocked.

"_Um...uh... Byakuya nii-sama, um Ren-Renji and I uh we have to uh ask you something_," stuttered Rukia.

"_Taicho, um Rukia and I have um known each other si-since we were little kids," said Renji feeling his heartbeats increase, and his stomach do flips. "We were wondering if, I could, sorry if we could have; um get your permission to uh startgoingout. IwouldliketobeRukia'sboyfriendandtakehertotheball_," Renji spitted out without taking a breath. He shut his eyes and clutched Rukia's hand preparing to be hit, or worse.

"_You have my permission_," said Byakuya without his eyes leaving from his paperwork.

"_HUH? Sorry wha?"_ screamed Rukia and Renji in unison.

"_I will not repeat my answer. Renji, you and Rukia have been in love since before she was adopted into the Kuchiki clan. You became my fukutaicho be come closer to her. I have noticed this a long time ago. If I had any suspicion that you would not take care of my sister and the honor of my family then I would have demoted you a while back and kicked you out of the Gotei and Seireitei,"_ stated Byakuya calmly.

Rukia threw her arms around her brother and gave him a tight hug before saying, "_Nii-sama arigato. Thank you so much_."

With that done, Renji and Rukia walked out hand-in-hand.

With a sigh, Byakuya thought "_Hisana, your sister has fallen in love. I promise I will never let Renji break her heart_." He then got up and took out a picture of Hisana and clutched it to his chest.

* * *

The first day of the Spring ball consisted of a Brunch and tea with all of the noble clans. The most respected clan was the Kuchiki clan, followed by the Hinamashi clan, along with the Kimoto clan, and lastly the Wihisacho clan. The brunch was held in the garden, with ladies sat in a separate table than the men. The ladies sat near the play sets and swings while the men sat gallantly under a grand Cherry Blossom tree. Although the Shinigami were invited, they were not seated at the same table as the nobles- just one nearby, which did include all the luxuries that that nobles' table had. Everyone was to be present and seated by twelve noon on the dot. Even the Shinigami were seated. Renji and Ichigo were a bit out of place but Hitsugaya was enjoying the weather and eyeing Hinamori. Renji looked up and spotted Rukia and simply stared. Rukia was wearing a blue knee length summer dress along with a white wide-rimmed sun hat. She looked gorgeous sitting with the women of the Noble families. 

Byakuya sat at the head of the nobles' table and sipped his green tea with chamomile, while enjoying the scenery. He noticed a young girl with long brown hair and nicely tanned skin playing by the lake when all the people were required to be seated for the brunch. As Byakuya got up from his seat to escort the lady back to her seat with a severe punishment, she got up and held a small bunny while walking back to the table.

"_How odd. We normally don't have bunnies at the garden this time of year_," thought Byakuya.

"_There is something about that girl that I can't understand,"_ replied Senbonzakura.

--Meanwhile at the Ladies' Table—

"_It's Chappy-kun_," screamed a raven-haired girl to the bunny in my hands.

"_I'm sorry, is this your bunny? I found it while I was at the lake_," I said.

"_Gomen. No it's not mine, but may I hold him?"_ replied the girl.

"_Hai. Of course you can_." I said while handing her the bunny.

"_Arigato. My name is Kuchiki Rukia. What's your name_?" said the raven haired girl

"_My name is Hinamashi Minori,"_ I told her.

Rukia looked graciously at a five foot five lady with brown hair down to her waist and lavender eyes. As Minori sat down next to Rukia they instantly became friends. For the remainder of the time they talked about everything from the white bunny to the necklace that Rukia was wearing.

"_This necklace was given to me by my boyfriend, Renji,"_ Rukia blushed.

"_Oh how cute. Is he a noble or a Shinigami like you?"_ questioned Minori.

_"He's a Shinigami. My brother's fukutaicho,"_ remarked Rukia.

"_Your brother? You did say your name was Kuchiki, right? That must mean your brother is Kuchiki Byakuya_," gasped Minori.

"_Yes he is. I was adopted into the clan. Renji and I grew up together before I was adopted by Nii-sama,"_ stated Rukia.

The conversation went from there. Brunch was bought out and the remainder of the morning was filled with laughter and fun but one face still emerged into Byakuya's mind- the image of the brown haired lady. Byakuya's eyes did not leave the lavender eyed girl even though they were well done with the brunch.

"_She really must be something if Rukia is already this close with her,"_ declared Senbonzakura.

_"Yes, she really is something,"_ followed Byakuya, with a feeling in his chest that was not there for nearly sixty years.

* * *

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**So how was this chapter? Yes I know I have a lot of RenRuk in here. But I have to introduce the new chick in Byakuya's life.**

**comments. suggestions. flames. edits. whatever you want.**

**Update 11/19 I added that Ichigo is the captain for the third squad. I think I forgot to mention it in here before so I put it in now. **


	4. Off the edge with a blindfold on

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. I wish I could own Byakuya or Uryuu but I don't. It's my first fanfiction so please be nice. I took a lot of my ideas from random pieces I read so if this sounds like yours let me know I'll give you credit or if you want I'll take that part out.**

* * *

"_Kurosaki-kun_!" screamed a busty orange haired teen while nearly tripping in front of Kurosaki Ichigo. 

"_Orihime? What are you doing here?"_ asked Ichigo while reaching out to help her.

"_Yo_," said a tall well built teen by the name Chad.

"_We are invited to the Noble Ball to help you guys here in Seireitei by the captain of the first squad. I'm only here because Inoue-san dragged me here_," said Ishida Uryuu.

"_Oh, that's cool_," said Ichigo, not paying much attention to what Uryuu just said. Ichigo was staring at Orihime, noticing how beautiful she looks. It wasn't because she was dressed revealingly because well she was dressed quite modestly in a long sea-green baby doll top accented with a jeweled neckline, paired with jeans that hugged her in just the right places. She was gorgeous.

"_Uh, Kurosaki-kun, are you okay? Did the green skinned aliens get you? NO, Chad, they got Kurosaki-kin,"_ exaggerated Orihime.

"_Orhime, I'm fine. I haven't seen you in a while and it's just that um you look especially pretty today,"_ Ichigo blushed.

"_Um, arigato. You look good today too. Not that you don't look good every day. But I mean I don't stare at you every day. I do see you and um you look nice every day. You have your off days too. But to me you'll al- …"_ said a nervous and blushing Orihime.

"I_ love it when she rambles. She's so nervous whenever she talks to me_," thought Ichigo.

"_King, you better ask her, before I do,"_ screeched Hichigo- Ichigo's hollow that resides inside him.

"_Shut up. You stay away from her. I'm gonna ask her. But what if she says no._" replied Ichigo

"_King, she's been in love with you since forever. You're the only idiot who doesn't know that."_

"_Wow I made a fool of myself again in front of Ichigo_," thought Orihime. Orihime finally stopped talking and Ichigo asked "_Inoue, can I talk to you for a second_?" while pulling her to the side.

"_What is it Kurosaki-kun? You look worried,_" said Orihime.

"_Inoue, do you know how to dance?"_ questioned Ichigo. "_What the hell did you ask her that for King_?" said Hichigo.

"_Umm what type of dance? I started learning ballet, but I would keep falling down so I stopped. I also know how to waltz and traditional Japanese dance_," said a confused Orihime.

Ichigo pulled her in close to him and without music started to waltz with her. Orihime was confused at first but then slowly moved along with him, when she looked into Ichigo's eyes. Ichigo lowered his lips toward Orihime's ears and whispered softly.

"_Would you like to come to the ball with me…as my girlfriend_?"

Orihime looked up and saw a glint of love in his eyes. She replied to him without words but with a deep meaningful kiss. Ichigo understood. No words were needed.

"_Yo king, you really know what your heart wants now, don't you_," stated Hichigo.

"_Nope. My heart is now where it belongs. With Orihime Inoue_," replied Ichigo.

"_Cough, cough. It's about time you two acknowledged your affections for each other," said the bespectacled Ishida "now that you're done, can show us where we are staying please_."

"_Well I got a message saying that Orihime will be staying with the 13th squad with Rukia. Ishida, you're staying with the 12th squad. Man, watch out for that Mayuri guy-he's creepy, and still wants to experiment on you. O and Chad, you'll be crashing with Zaraki Kenpachi's squad. Keep an eye open at all times. It seems that the guy might kill anyone and everyone. Now that you know where you're staying, grab your stuff and lets go,"_ said Ichigo.

* * *

"Nii-sama, today is the fencing competition right? How come the ladies can't participate? That's not fair," complained Rukia to her brother. 

"Rukia-chan, it is tradition for women to watch the jousts and choose a strong husband from them. Besides you already get enough fighting by being a Shinigami," answered Byakuya while sitting along a swing with his sister. This swing was placed under a giant tree within the central garden of the Kuchiki mansion. This garden was a courtyard adding a bit of youth and greenery to the mansion. Not far from where they were sitting was a lily garden surrounded by multiple colored roses.

Rukia sighed and then said "Hai Nii-sama you are right. Are you participating tomorrow? Normally you don't."

"I am required to this year. Every eligible bachelor must joust to get the attention of the ladies. I am required to choose a wife so I must participate in all the events," said Byakuya.

"What do you mean 'required'?"

"Your sister had two requests from me the day she died. I was to find you and take care of you. The second request was to try and fall in love again, as well as to marry again. I do not wish to love again. Hisana owns my heart but still. Rukia as you know I am the head of the Kuchiki clan, therefore I must provide an heir in order to allow our clan to survive. My meeting the other day with the Clan Elders and Yamamoto taicho was to remind me of my duties. I must participate in these events so I can find a noble wife worthy of the name Kuchiki," stated Byakuya without the slightest bit of emotion.

"Nii-sama. How can they make you do this? You are the head so can't you stop them from forcing you? I don't want you to suffer especially by wedding someone you don't love simply because you are required to produce an heir," cried Rukia.

"I will not love again." With that said Byakuya left Rukia on the swing alone and headed towards his room on the second story.

As he walked through the halls of the second floor, a girl with long brown hair, dressed in an ankle length white chiffon dress was blindfolded and was chasing around little kids. She was very happy and cheerful while playing with the kids. She was the same girl from this morning at the breakfast, noticed Byakuya. As the girl came dangerously close to the edge of the hall overshadowing the courtyard, Byakuya quickened his pace. One of the kids pulled on her dress and she turned around stumbling over her own feet and slipped off the edge. She screamed and said her prayers aloud. "O dear God I'm sorry for every bad thing I've done." She prepared herself to meet the ground but wait she didn't feel anything besides a pair of arms that had come to save her. Within a moment, she was wrapped around the arms of Kuchiki Byakuya, who had just saved her. As he placed her back on solid ground on the second story, he took off her blindfold.

"You-r By-a-kuya- sama. Arigato for saving me," said the girl.

"Hn. You should have been more careful. What if it was the little kids who nearly fell off? How irresponsible," said Byakuya walking away from her.

"You normally don't go around saving people, Byakuya," said Senbonzakura.

"She is a guest of the Kuchiki's. If anything happened to her then I would be held responsible," replied Byakuya.

"Oh alright then I suppose that there is a need to know her name to figure out if she is truly a noble or not."

Byakuya turned around to ask the girl her name but she was long gone. "That scent. It reminds me of Hisana," thought Byakuya.

Down below a smile etched across the face of Rukia as she saw her Nii-sama leap across to help Minori-san. The way he held her so delicately and then put her down gave Rukia an idea. "What if we make Nii-sama fall in love again? Onee-san I know Nii-sama loves you very much. But I also know you want him to move on with life," said Rukia silently.

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**So I love change meetings between people. This chap wasnt as long as the other three but I think it covered what I wanted to cover in it. **

**Reviews. Flames. Suggestions. Whatever else.**

**Thanks Lien-Chan for catching my mistake about Rukia---I fixed it. **

**I have the next two chaps on paper but I'm wayy too lazy to type them up. **

**Yea I just re-read this and I made Renji ask Rukia out the same way Ichigo asked Orihime--wut an idiot of me**

**Now I have to get back to my 500 calc questions and then get some sleep. :)**


	5. Got Beat by a Chick

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. I wish I could own Byakuya or Uryuu but I don't. It's my first fanfiction so please be nice. I took a lot of my ideas from random pieces I read so if this sounds like yours let me know I'll give you credit or if you want I'll take that part out.**

* * *

"_Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen_," bellowed the voice of Rangiku Matsumoto into the microphone. She was chosen to be the announcer for the fencing event because not only was she the loudest but also because it would keep her away from the sake. 

"_Today, the Nobles will have a fencing competition between the males of each clan. Each will fight their opponent with their fencing swords. There are rules you must follow, which are posted on the wall, the most important one being you can't kill your opponent. Alright then now go get dressed and face your opponent. May the best man win,_" said cheery Matsumoto, looking drunk already as her chest falls out of her shirt on her way off the stage.

"_Taicho, come here!"_ waved Matsu toward Hitsugaya

"_What do you want? Don't you have work to do_?" said the not-so-much-a-child anymore prodigy.

"_Well actually rumor is that Hinamori-chan wants you to ask her to the ball_." Said Matsumoto

"_Momo isn't even here. I believe I am only require to be present at the ball not necessarily dance or show up with a date_," replied Hitsugaya.

"_No Taicho, everyone is required to dance at the ball it's tradition. You know it's rude not to do so anyway. So why don't you just ask Momo to the dance_," said a drowsy Matsumoto.

Meanwhile, the event was starting and Byakuya went to look at the list to see who he would be fencing against.

"_Hinamashi Tenchi. I've never met him but I do know that he is the head of the Hinamashi clan. This should be fairly simple_," thought Byakuya.

He was soon approached by a messenger and was told that Hinamashi Tenchi was not feeling good and was taken immediately to the 4th squads infirmary. One of Tenchi's siblings or the person directly under him for the head of the clan would take his place as an opponent for Byakuya.

Byakuya thought that this would make things easier for him because a sudden replacement might not be prepared for a fencing joust.

* * *

As the ladies sat along with the elders and children to watch the event, Rukia looked around for new friend Minori. When she couldn't find her anywhere, she reluctantly sat next to her cousins, Kuchiki Chisi and Kuchiki Ano. 

"_Konechiwa, Chisi-chan and Ano-chan_," greeted Rukia as she sat into her seat.

"_Ah, Rukia-chan. I see Byakuya-sama is actually participating in the events this year. Is it me or does he get hotter and hotter as the days go by?_" questioned Chisi, a tall yet chubby women eager to get married because she was getting too old.

"_Nii-sama is required to chose a wife and to participate in every activity that a bachelor is required to. Nii-sama looks the same to me and please he's my brother I don't think of him like that_," said Rukia while fiddling with her necklace.

"_O Rukia-chan that's such good news. My father thinks Byakuya-sama and I will make a great coul. You and I are going to be sister-in-laws_," screamed Ano.

_"No I'm going to marry him,"_ argued Chisi.

Rukia looked over to her brother, _"Poor Nii-sama. He is suffering and all the single women will flock to him. I only hope he finds someone who cares for him and who he will learn to love as well,"_ she thought.

"_Rukia-chan, look Byakuya sama is getting ready to fight_," said Ano-snapping Rukia out of her thoughts.

* * *

Byakuya stood dressed in a white fencing suit and a thin metal fencing sword. He put on his mask and helmet, leaving his hair out, and walked out to the field. He saw his opponent already waiting for him. Hinamashi stood wearing the same outfit as Byakuya but with more padding around the chest. As Byakuya approach the center of the field the audience nearest to the field cringed and sulked feeling Byakuya's rietsu, but Hinamashi stood there the same as before. The two opponents bowed and began the fight. Once they started, Byakuya had to actually put in effort to avoid being hit by Hinamashi. Hinamashi was fast and careful when attacking Byakuya. One attack nearly missed Byakuya's shoulder. Byakuya took this opportunity to hit Hinamashi on the lower stomach. He missed, allowing Hinamashi to gently break skin on his lower back. The crowd was quite and watching this interesting fight between a Gotei 13 taicho and a unknown Hinamashi noble. Byakuya regain his composure and started focusing on the way Hinamashi moved. Byakuya saw that Hinmashi moved with only one proper leg while the other was used to make turns and was lagging behind. Byakuya used this to his advantage and kept switching his directions while being followed by Hinamashi. He saw an opening and took his sot. He hit something but couldn't tell because he felt a shooting pain in his stomach. A buzzer rang and the match was over. Byakuya sat on his knees and felt blood seep out of his protective uniform. Byakuya looked up and saw Hinamashi's arm drip in blood. It seems that Hinamashi had hit Byakuya right before being hit by him. Byakuya took off his helmet and Hinamashi followed pursuit, unveiling long luscious chocolate brown hair followed by a gorgeous face sparkling with lavender eyes. 

"_Wait, that's the women from the lake at the breakfast and the one who ran into me. I can't believe that I got beat, even though it wasn't a zanpaktou match, by a mere Hinamashi girl,"_ thought Byakuya.

"_Damn, she's hot and can kick your ass. Hm, I'm jealous that she's that pretty. But I could kick her ass. I somehow don't believe that she's a regular Noble_," teased Senbonzakura.

Byakuya was awoken from his conversation with Senbonzakura when the Hinamashi women reached out her hand to help Byakuya get up. He merely shoved her hand out of the way and walked back to his preparation room to change and bandage his cut. Once he was done he walked back to the stadium because he was required to. On his way out, the Hinamashi women was waiting for him, completely changed and cleaned off.

"_Hello Kuchiki-sama. I am here to apologize for being your opponent today. I understand you would have preferred to have fought a male member of our clan- as required by the rules. But at this time none of them are young enough or healthy enough so I was put against you. My name is Hinamashi Minori and the leader of the clan is my brother. It truly was an honor to be your opponent_," stated the girl.

"_Hinamashi Minori, you were a good opponent. You own that match fairly. You were fast and move in a way similar to Shunpo. Surely you are considering a career in the Gotei 13. We need trustworthy and talented people seeing as we are still recovering from the traitors' rebellion_," asked Byakuya

"_I was trained as a Shinigami but I have not considered it. Shunpo is against the rules in the fencing competition but my way of moving is similar to shunpo without the use of reitsu. I used to help nii-sama when he practiced his fencing and jousts. He is much faster and better than I am when it comes to fighting. O my it's getting late and I have to get to the 4th Squad infirmary to see my brother. Please excuse me,"_ said Minori.

"_How about I walk you there? It is on my way to my division. I have to pick up some paper work_," said Byakuya.

"_Thank you. Actually I have no idea where it is from the Kuchiki estate_," replied Minori.

They alked n silence the rest of the way until they reached the 4th division when Minori tahnked him and then went inside.

"_Somehow I feel like I know her really well. Now what did I come here to do_?" asked Byakuya as he entered his Taicho office. His paperwork was done because Renji, his fukutaicho was trying to impress him.

"_You lied to her. You were supposd to stay and watch the remainder of the fencing competition. Admit it you just wanted to spend time with her_," stated Senbonzakura. Byakuya ignored her and walked over to his desk and made sure all the paperwork was correct. He checked his messages and noticed that there was to be a Taicho's meeting the next morning.

Apparently, Yamamoto-taicho has found a replacement for the 5th squad captain. Aizen had been defeated nearly five years ago and so mch had changed. Hinamori-fukutaicho had gotten over his betrayal and Hitsugaya-taicho had grown physically as well as in terms of power. Kurosaki Ichigo was the captain for Ichimaru Gin's former squad since he could just simply ignore Kira. Hisagi was acting as a taicho before until he was assigned the title by Yamamoto-taicho.The 5th squad was really hard to find a replacement for, they were the only ones without a full time captain.

It will be interesting to see who Yamamoto taicho has picked out.

* * *

**Happy B-Day Zaraki! (i think)**

**Not sure how this one came out. There's a lot of grammer errors and spelling mistakes. Let me know if you spotted some and I'll fix it.**

**My fight scene sucked and I think it was a bit out of character for Byakuya to lose but I wanted him to face her and be like "woah she can stand next to me and not be affected by my rietsu" type of thing**

**Thanks for reading. Feel free to type anything to me. Flames reviews edits. random things are welcome too.**


	6. New to the 5th

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. I wish I could own Byakuya or Uryuu but I don't. It's my first fanfiction so please be nice. I took a lot of my ideas from random pieces I read so if this sounds like yours let me know I'll give you credit or if you want I'll take that part out.**

**Hey there's a part in this that might be too mature or something along that line. i'll give you a warning in bold. Read it if you want to. Let me know if its too much. As I said before it's my first fanfic, so I really don't know ANYTHING...not a single thing... about how this stuff is supposed to work. :)**

* * *

As dawn broke, Seireitei was buzzing with life again. The taichos were all getting ready for their meeting that morning. Rumors spread like wildfire about who the new taicho would be. The Fifth squad was the last one to get a captain following the deception of Aizen, gin and Tousen. Squad 9 was the first to be assigned a taicho because Shuhei Hisagi was given the title after Yamamoto saw that he did all the work already. Squad 3 was a bit more difficult seeing as how none wanted to deal with Kira. Yamamoto taicho assigned this task to Kurosaki Ichigo, who possessed enough rietsu to compare with the taicho, and because he needed an official rank sine he saved Soul society from destruction at least twice already. The fifth squad was hardest because whoever the taicho would be needed to have a lot of talent and have the ability to take care of the emotional stress bought onto many of the squad members. The fukutaicho of the squad, Hinamori Momo had regained her senses abut was still apprehensive of trusting people yet. Whoever this new taicho was had a ton of expectations to live up to. 

All the taichos as well as Hinamori were lined up in the central meeting room in Seireitei. Kuchiki taicho was his usual melancholy person that is until he saw a flash of lavender in the dimly lit room." Hmm I seem to be hallucinating. I thought I saw a lavender pair of eyes in the back of the room," he thought.

In reality, Yamamoto taicho stepped out of the darkness follows by a person dressed in a captain's uniform hiding in the shadows, making the persons facial and physical features invisible to the taichos.

"Ahem. As you all know, today's meeting is to introduce the new taicho of the 5th squad. The new taicho is very talented; in both kido and zanpaktou. This taicho has no training from the academy but has been personally trained by myself and the King of Seireitei. I would like to introduce Hinamori Minori as the new taicho of the 5th squad, "said Yamamoto taicho as the shadow stepped up. With every step forward the lighting would get brighter allowing everyone to be engulfed by the beauty of the third female taicho. Everyone was in awe as to how she could stand so close to all of these taichos and not be affected by their reitsus'. Minori bowed respectfully as she walked over to her spot between Unohana taicho and Byakuya taicho. Dressed in a lavender kimono under the traditional taicho's uniform was a sash holding her zanpaktou surrounded by fresh Chinese bellflowers which tied her zanpaktou to her kimono. The lavender of her eyes was captivating, shining even brighter by reflecting off of the kimono . She stood silently for the remainder of the meeting. At the end she greeted each taicho so she would have a familiarity with them.

Byakuya was leaving when Minori came beside him and said " Arigato Kuchiki taicho for walking me over to the 4th squad yesterday. I'm sorry I didn't give you a direct answer about whether I wanted to join the Gotei 13. I was told strictly by Yamamoto sensei not to discuss my involvement with the Gotei. I hope you forgive my rudeness."

"So apologetic and angelic," said Senbonzakura in the back of Byakuya's head.

"If you are obligated to do something then you should follow it. I do not mind that you were rude in order to follow rules and laws,' said Byakuya to Minori.

"Hai taicho. My division is here so I must get going I have yet to meet my fukutaicho and my squad. Thank you for walking me here. I suppose I shall see you at the dance tonight, Kuchiki taicho?" said Minori.

"I was merely walking to my own division. Yes I suppose we shall meet again at the Noble's dance tonight Hinamashi taicho," said Byakuya with a curve creeping up on the side of his lips. He realized what was happening and crossed over to his division.

" I saw that Byakuya. Someone's a bit excited to meet her at the ball," teased Senbonzakura.

"Not at all. I just confirmed my suspicions about her. She is the second noble and the third female taicho in the Gotei 13. I'm just pleased that a mere noble did not beat me but a taicho." Replied Byakuya

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**_Okay fair warning I don't know if this is classified as smut or lemons or what not. There's no sex no graphic description. Just undressing and kissing. Let me know if I should change the rating or add a warning or something_**.

"Rukia! Come on you can't wear that to the ball," said Ano pointing to a dress covered in Chappy the bunny print.

"Why not Ano-chan? It's so pretty," said Rukia.

"No it's not. There is a dress code for the ball (thankfully interrupted Chisi in the background) It clearly says that there should be no animal prints and no short skimpy dresses either. Unfortunately for you, Chappy prints are animal prints," said Ano.

There came a knock on Rukia's door.

"Gomennasai ladies. May I talk to Rukia-chan alone please?" asked Renji.

"Of course you can. But first you have to tell us which one of us is the prettiest" teased Chisi

"Well to tell you the truth none of you compare to my girl friend. She's the most gorgeous women in all the worlds," replied Renji.

"Well then who's your girlfriend? We'll just have to see for ourselves," remarked Ano.

"She's special. You'll have to see when I show up with her at the ball," said Renji while pushing them out of the room. Rukia noticed he was holding a garment bag, as he locked her bedroom door. Rukia sat up on her bed and was worried about why he locked the door. The two of them promised they would wait for sex until they were married. They both wanted each other but they knew that the nobles would be furious if they found out. They both knew their responsibilities and restricted themselves from going all the way.

**_Okay fair warning I don't know if this is classified as smut or lemons or what not. There's no sex no graphic description. Just undressing and kissing. Let me know if I should change the rating or add a warning or something_**. _**Should I take this part out?**_

Renji walked up to Rukia placing the bag on the bed beside her. He pulled out a blindfold and placed it on her eyes before she could react to this he started placing hot passionate kisses on her neck. He turned her around, now standing behind her. He continued to kiss her, now on her nape after brushing aside her hair. He slowly unzipped her dress and put his warm hands on her back. Rukia was breathless and debating whether to stop him or not. He trailed his kisses down her back taking off the dress completely now. His hands touching every inch of her while his lips followed pursuit. Suddenly he stopped. Rukia, who was now panting whispered Renji's name in lust. Meanwhile Renji had walked over to the garment bag and took out what was in it. Holding it, he walked back to a blindfolded Rukia and continued to place kisses on her neck and slipped her hands and head through a dress.

"He undresses me and then dresses me again," thought Rukia. Zipping up the dress and fixing Rukia's appearance. Renji placed a diamond brooch on the left side of her dress, the brooch being in the shape of the letter R. He then removed the blindfold placing Rukia in front of a mirror. Rukia looked at her dress and the brooch then after a moment of shock she gave a Renji a heartfelt hug. She looked electrifying in a light green v-neck dress that played up her light skin. The dress gave her an illusion of long longs, lengthening her height. Her eye caught the brooch and thought " R for Renji" and smiled a bit.

"Renji the dress is simply beautiful and the brooch is gorgeous. This dress must have cost you two months' salary," said Rukia.

'Only the best for MY girlfriend," admired Renji. "I'm going to go now. Get ready and I'll see you in a few to escort you down there."

With a peck on the lips he left, allowing Rukia admire and daydream about her boyfriend.

* * *

Back at the 5th squads headquarters… 

"Alright my name is Hinamashi Minori and from now on I will be your taicho. I don't really care how the division was taken care of before but from now on I will do things my way. I will allow any complaints and comments in order to be fair. I only ask you to be respectful and no to be rude towards anyone. I know that you have no idea as to how I fight and who I am overall but I assure you in time you will learn everything that needs to be known about me. Please know that I was trained by Yamamoto-taicho, and the King of Soul Society. I know that the normal procedure to become taicho is to have approval of the existing taichos or to battle an existing taicho- I have not done either and became a taicho. In due time, you will see my capabilities. Normally I will allow three mistakes before punishing you, please keep yourself from getting in trouble with me. Once a month I will test your skills and will train you personally according to this calendar in my hand. My job is to protect you and lead you which I intend to do to the fullest. Now if anyone has any questions please present them; otherwise you are dismissed," said the new taicho of the 5th division.

Hinamori Momo looked at her new taicho in awe. "She's a noble and now a taicho. She was personally trained by the head taicho and the King themselves. She has a demanding yet peaceful aura around her."

"Hinamori Momo. I believe you are my fukutaicho. If you can please show me around and help me today." Asked Minori.

"Hai Hinamashi-taicho."

"Please just call me Minori"

"Hai Minori-taicho."

For the next couple of hours Momo and Minori worked together and chatted peacefully.

"Hinamori-fukutaicho, would you like to get ready for the dance together?" asked Minori after finishing her work.

"O that would be great taicho and please just call me Momo. If I can call you by your given name then you can call me by mine."

With that they gathered Momo's outfit and other necessities and went over to the temporary residence she held at the Kuchiki manor. With only two hours to go, they were rushing to adorn themselves. Neither of them had dates so they decided to go together as friends.

In his room, Byakuya was helped by his maid to get ready. He hated these functions because he knew his fan girls would not stop begging him to dance with them. After all he was the most eligible bachelor in all of Soul Society. But somehow tonight, Byakuya, the one who always wore a cold expression, had butterflies in his stomach. He was forced to dress in a formal kimono instead of his usual taicho uniform. His scarf had been placed around his neck as usual. His hair was trimmed not by much but to make a noticeable difference. Even with all of these changes, he looked HOT!! (Ok so I love him. I'm a fan girl. So shoot me.)With only a half hour more to go until the ball, Kuchiki Byakuya went to take a walk in the cool spring night. He silently wondered whether anything interesting would happen tonight.

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So comments. anything.

Hope your thanksgiving was fun. I don't know how this one turned out at all. I had a bunch of things imagined but I don't know.

Thanks for reading. :)


	7. The Dance

**

* * *

Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. I wish I could own Byakuya or Uryuu but I don't. It's my first fanfiction so please be nice.**

* * *

Byakuya hated these gatherings. To him they were a waste of time. Honestly with all of the rietsu present in this one room it's a miracle no hollows or Arrancar showed up. After Aizen's defeat more and more hollows ended up evolving into Arrancar. This beginning a new era of evil, but in the past few weeks the Arrancar attacking the human world harbored strange powers. For goodness sake everyone should be focused on finding out what this new phenomena was. 

In the Kuchiki ball room; this was basically a large arena with a marble dance floor with dinner tables around the edges on the first floor as well as a platform for the four noble families to sit at. The second floor consisted of an elaborate lounge room and bathrooms for each gender. Kuchiki Byakuya was seated in the largest throne because the head of each noble clan was to be seated in the front and Byakuya was the head of the noblest clan. The night's events were to go like this- the dinner would happen first consisting of a full four course meal made with the finest herbs and ingredients; then the dance would follow. The dance was actually made of multiple types of dances. It went from slow formal dancing to rapid contemporary dancing, which was at the end because the elderly would go home by then. Each noble was required to dance to the waltz and all were trained to perfect it.

Kuchiki Byakuya was still trying to figure out whom to dance with that night but decided that since he had so many fan girls he'd just dance with the only one who wouldn't faint by being near him. Even when he was hiding his rietsu, it was jaw breaking compared to some of the other nobles.

Two of the loveliest ladies walked into the ball room as Byakuya was contemplating his decision.

"_Oh my goodness Minori-san, you looks amazing_," said Matsumoto Rangiku.

Hinamashi Minori stepped into the ball room wearing a midnight blue gown fitted closely against her chest and waist falling down into an elegant belled shaped dress. It was a tube top like corset with tiny pieces of crystal that shined to make the dress glitter like the night sky. On her neck was a diamond pendent in the shape of a star and her initial M. Dangling from her wrist was a worn out silver bracelet with tiny heart charms on it. She always wore that bracelet no matter what and tonight was no exception. Her hair was done up in a bun with a few brown locks curled up to frame her face. She looked like a goddess that nearly everyone was gawking at. The other lady seemed to cause a rush of adoring fans herself. Hinamori Momo looked like a siren in the plunging neckline of her red dress. She wore the dress with great caution but still attracted more attention than usual. Her childhood friend stood with his jaw dropped and eyes wide open. Suddenly the room appeared much colder than it was before she had stepped into it. Sensing this Matsumoto ran up to her taicho whilst grabbing Momo and forcing them to dance.

_" Aneue__ where have you been? E__ve__r since you became a taicho you__'__v__e left me all alone. You know __nii__-__sama__ is ill. Okasan and otosan are busy. I thought we were suppose__d to come to the dance together,__"_ said a strawberry blonde teenage looking girl to Minori.

"_Gomen Lana. I completely forgot about my promise to come to the dance with you. I actually got ready with my new fukutaicho, who is my friend as well. You should meet her you guys are so much alike. I'm sorry I haven't been able to give you a lot of time but hey today's my first day on the job cut me some slack_."

"_It's okay. I know you are working very hard. I just don't have a dance partner anymore since as soon as we came in he stepped on Mayuri taicho's foot_." Said Lana

"_Well then we'll just have to find you a dance partner huh? For now you'll have to deal with meeting some of my new friends."_ Minori and Lana walked up to the table where Rukia and her friends were sitting then introduced her sister. "Hey guys, I'd like you to meet my younger sister, Lana." Around the table everyone introduced themselves.

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After introducing her sister to her new friends, she walked over to wear Kuchiki Byakuya was seated. She had noticed that his eyes had not yet left her since she entered the room. She was the acting head of the Hinamashi clan seeing as how her brother was still ill. Walking over to her seat, she noticed that Byakuya was dressed in an amazing white kimono embroidered in blue. His hair was somehow different today but still had the kieseken. Minori swore she saw a smile grace his face as she sat down,

"_Who_ _knew that midnight blue and lavender would make such a great combination?"_ thought Byakuya.

Rukia, wearing the dress and accessories gifted to her by Renji, sat in between Renji and Lana.

"_Look Renji, Minori-san and Nii-sama look like Kings and Queens from fairy tales,_" whispered Rukia

"_Yeah you're right. I think we should hook them up. Honestly if he got himself a girl then he might actually smile again and finally leave us alone."_

"_When you said the thing about Queens and Kings, it pains me to know that none of you know my dear sister. She has a past and one day could have been Queen if it weren't for me being so weak. She was married once to the Prince of Seireitei. She was the daughter-in-law of the King, the wife of the eldest son to the throne. When he died her world shattered. If she ever does marry again, I wish her the best_," said Lana to Rukia and Renji.

"_Your sister is our friend. We may not have known her for so long but we know that there is a connection between them. Nii-sama also has a past; which you have probably know of. If they both want to be happy, I think they could find happiness in each other_," said Rukia.

Ichigo and Orhime sat in the far side of the table oblivious to the conversation between Rukia and Lana. The orange haired male looked at the doe-eyed female, now known as his girlfriend and said "_Orihime."_ He pulled out a small red box, which she took then opened. Inside was a small pair of earrings in the shape of her Rikki. With a blush inspiring hug, she took off her hoops and put on her gift.

Minori smiled softly and chuckled at the sight of the events at Rukia's table. Byakuya caught her and asked her what was so funny.

_"Look at the table." _

Byakuya turned and sighed. Those darn humans always creating a scene. He never understood why his sister was friends with them. He turned back to Minori and told her that dinner was to be served soon. With that the nobles got up and headed to the most beautifully decorated table. Dinner went by smoothly and all Byakuya could do was watch his new colleague in awe. The way she ate was so delicate yet she had engulfed so much food.

"_No one knows anything about her. I'm such an idiot that I didn't look through the records for information about her. None of the taichos know what type of Zanpaktou she has, or if she has a Bankai. I can't even get a reading on her rietsu level. But at least she can sit near me without fainting,"_ he thought.

Minori noticed that Byakuya's eyes were following her every move so she decided to ease his thoughts and engaged him in useless conversation. No normal person would do such a thing as they would have known that Byakuya hated petty talks. But Minori being new did it anyway, not that Byakuya would mind seeing as he wanted to know her better.

"_So taicho, wasn't that dinner just delicious_?" she asked

"_Yes it was good. I personally asked the chiefs to be very careful with these meals as the honor of the Kuchiki house was on the line_," he responded.

"_No one expects anything less from the Kuchiki's. By the way what's your favorite dish? Personally I like anything with spices and herbs. My grandmother used to make a chicken parmesan dish made with Indian herbs and spices. She was the only one I knew to ever mix Italian meals with Asian spices. I begged her so much for the recipe but she wouldn't give it to me. She ended up giving it to me as a wedding gift_," laughed Minori.

"_Crap! She's married. Wait but there's no ring on her finger_. _Wait why do I even care about her being married or not? It shouldn't make a difference to me. Right? She's just a fellow taicho right?"_ Byakuya slapped himself mentally. Then aloud he said, " _Well if I may be so rude as to ask where your husband is."_

_"I thought you knew about me and my history seeing as you ARE the RECORD Keeper. Hahaha. Well I'd love to tell you about my life but right now I need to find a dance partner because the first dance is being," _she chuckled

_"Don't worry about that. I need a partner too so may I dance with you before my __fan girls__ decide to show up?" _he asked

Minori noticed a trail of females lining up behind Byakuya, probably waiting to ask him to dance. She obliged and proceeded to the dance floor with Byakuya by her side. . At Rukia's table, Ichigo and Orihime got up first followed by Yachiru dragging Chad to lay with her, then lastly Renji took Rukia up. The only ones left that the table were Lana and Ishida Uryuu. Both of them just sat there waiting for the other to speak or until someone else asked them to dance. Finally Matsumoto, who had just forced her taicho and Hinamori to dance, grabbed them off their feet and threw them onto the dance floor. Lana landed elegantly while Uryuu fell straight on his bum. She helped him up and they began to dance. Uryuu was blushing more than a thirteen year old girl getting her first kiss.

"_You do know the man is supposed to lead the dance, not follow right? This is the waltz."_

"_Hn. Yes Shinigami I do know how to waltz. In fact I can bet I am the best dancer in this entire room,"_ said Uryuu placing all of his Quincy pride on this bet, he grabbed her and led all of the dances for the remainder of the night- whether it was the waltz or the tango the Quincy made sure he was the best at it.

For the next hour, Byakuya danced with Minori, stopping only for a few drinks and to sit out of the "dirty dances." Renji and Rukia ran back and forth from dancing to making out, whereas Ichigo and Orihime stopped after she stepped on his foot with her heels. There were only two couples who stayed on the dance floor for every song; one being the Quincy and Minori's sister and the other being the taicho of the 10th squad and his childhood "friend." For every song that came on the Quincy would not let go of Lana. The waltz he led, but from then on it was a competition between them to lead, to be fiercer than the other. There was lust and chemistry between them. No matter how fast or slow the song their eyes never drifted. It seemed like they danced for themselves in a closed arena. They only realized they were in front of everyone when Minori got up and pried her sister out of the Quincy's hands. Not that there was anything wrong with the Quincy but Minori didn't want her sister to be subject to the types of rumors that she was already hearing.

"'_Did__ you see the girl in the blue gown? __I h__eard she slept with all of the taichos to get her spot.' 'Even Soi Fon __and Unohana__?' 'Yea' "_

Minori could ignore them, but her sister was soft. She turned her gaze towards her fukutaicho and said "_That's__ so cute. Momo and Hitsugaya taicho look so peaceful together don't they taicho?"_

"_They are childhood friends. And please refer to me as Kuchiki or Byakuya-sama. I am not just your colleague, but also a fellow noble__"_ said Byakuya. "Yea_ right you just want her to say your name… why don't you just ask her to scream it for you,"_ said Senbonzakura in the back of his mind. "_**SHUT UP! For a female you really are perverted,**__"_ said Byakuya. "_That's what happens when I get stuck in a man's brain. Remember I've been with everyone you have. Not that I'm actually participating but I'm still there. Ok I'll shut up now." _

_"Don't you __think they are more than friends? __I mean they both feel the same way but I think they are scared to lose their friendship if they are more than friends,"_ said Minori breaking Byakuya away from his argument with Senbonzakura.

_"I need to get__ some air I am going to go out," _said Byakuya leaving.

_"How about I come with you? I need some air also_," asked Minori.

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They both left the ball room, with many eyes following them. Rarely did Byakuya leave any place with a woman he had spent the night dancing with. Rumors sparked instantly, many caused by Chisi and Ano. Few of them were caught by Rukia's ears.

"_So I heard that girl who left with my Byakuya sama is not really a noble. That's why she's being kicked out from here_."

"_I heard she's a whore from o__u__tside of Seireitei. No one's seen her here before."_

_"The entire clan is a mystery."_

"Well they both need air that's why they are going outside. Nii sama wouldn't do anything bad and if I were you I would refrain from saying anything bad about Minori san seeing as how she is a taicho as well as a noble and you guys well your only nobles," threatened Rukia.

Outside the cherry blossom petals breezed on the roof top of the ball room. Byakuya and Minori sat on the edge feeling the wind.

_"I love the wind,_" stated Minori while Byakuya wondered why he hadn't stopped her from coming with him. Especially since he knew that the nobles would not allow it. Even so he was intrigued by this woman.

_"Hinamashi taicho-(please call me Minori said the woman) - Minori san how is it that you are not affected by the rietsu's of many of the taichos? Even I sometimes can't stand straight near Yamamoto taicho. I cannot detect your reitsu and I know that no one can block all reitsu from being sensed but yours is practically nonexistent.__" _

_"I__ was wondering when you would ask me that. You see I can be near the taicho's because I have an unreasonably high amount of rietsu. __You cannot__ detect my rietsu because of the bracelet I wear. It was a gift from my husband, who is now __dead;__ he gave it to me as a wedding gift. It contains the power to hide all rietsu from being detected, and allows it to be directed at a certain person when needed."_

_"How is your rietsu so powerful?"_

_"Nearly fifty years ago I was once married to the Prince of Seireitei, the youngest son of the King. His name was Teiano Kinomoto__ He was very powerful and was a hidden __Shinigami. __Yes I was the daughter-in-law of the King. Kinomoto loved me very much and when we were married it was hushed up since no one knew much about the Prince and my father was sworn to secrecy. Kinomoto took real good care of __me, and__ helped me improve myself in __every way__ possible. Then one day we were out in the 68__th__ sector of Rungaiko when a half dozen Hollows attack my sister, and I. Kinomoto came and was heavily injured after defeating them. He gave up the remaining of his life by slashing his zanpaktou through his heart and then through my womb. I was expecting. His life ended up becoming my power and in the end I got a piece of his soul and rietsu in me forever. I lost not only my love that day but my child as well, because Kinomoto could only transfer himself by __doing that. I wouldn't complain though because his child was a piece of him, which was sacrificed to keep him with me as long as I live," _she explained while crying.

Byakuya softly wiped her tears and hugged her close to him. He knew how it was to lose the one you loved, he lost his Hisana.

"_At least he's still with you. In your heart and soul he still lives on with you. For that be happy_," whispered Byakuya.

In the back of Minori's mind Kinomoto spoke, _"Love look you melted the human icicle_."

Rukia and Lana went outside and Rukia motioned for Lana to look up. There they were. In each other's arms with silent drops of emotion flowing on their faces.

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This is my longest piece ever. 3000 and some odd words!! It took me forever to write, and this is after kicking out a million parts for the dance. I'm gonna skip the rest of the ball because it's not that important. The story really doesn't have to do with the ball really. It was just to introduce Minori. If you want me to continue with the ball then give some ideas. 

You knw the drill. O god my fingers and head hurt.

EDIT: 12/2/07: I won't be able to update until the 14th of December. I've got finals coming up so all my "stories" are put on hold till then. Reviews will still be appreciated. My brains gonna fry with all of this studing and I will definately need your help getting ideas for any and all three of my fics. Luv ya!


	8. Minori's Zanpaktou

Chap 8

The dance was a large success for the Nobles. As a result many couples announced their engagements on the last day of the ball. Romance was in the air one week into spring. The Kuchiki elders were disappointed, though, that Byakuya did not announce an engagement and constantly reminded him of his duties. It was all overwhelming and frustrating to Byakuya.

Byakuya woke up from an unpleasing sleep and headed straight to the training ground. What he saw was Hinamashi taicho training with her sister. Both of them had their zanpaktous out and were coved in bruises and blood. Byakuya took a seat and watched them continue their fight. Lana' shikai was a long flame where as Minori's was a blade of glass. Byakuya had never seen a blade made from glass before. He wondered how it was so powerful to stand against the fire and not be shattered.

Lana rushed into Minori's side and filled the surrounding area with flames blocking Minori's exit with blazes. Lana walked through the flames unharmed and slashed a burn into Minori's arm and scorched her flawless skin.

"Lana, What the hell. My skin. Damn you," screamed Minori slashing Lana's zanpaktou out of her hands then hit her on the back of her head with her sword. Byakuya wanted as a large gust of wind and sand killed the fire. He noticed that Minori was vibrantly moving her hands as if directing the wind and sand. Her shikai'd zanpaktou the glass sword turned into a container of sand, which acted as a handle for a nonexistent blade. She put her zanpaktou back at her side and lifted her sister. She then walked them over to where Byakuya was sitting and laid her sister down. She reached into her bag and bought out something to fully heal her sister and herself. The medicine was made specially for her by the research captain of the 12th division. It healed her fully returning her skin to the flawless beauty that it was.

"So Byakuya sama how was my performance?" she said jokingly.

"Your zanpaktou's shikai is made of glass? It serves in beauty and strength. But you also seem to have a control over the element of wind, huh?" he replied

"You're really smart aren't you. Yes as I told you before I have Kinomoto's powers as well. So his zanpaktou controlled all earthly elements, like dirt, grass, sand, and water, while mine controls the wind the glass was made from sand being pressured by the wind and heated by my sister's zanpaktou. Since it was filled with rietsu it didn't break. It took me a while to figure out what would beat my sister's fire. And yes I can control the wind with my thoughts but I have more control when I use my hands."

"One day I'd like to spar against you and see how you compare to the power of Senbonzakura," said Byakuya.

"Maybe tomorrow but right now my skin's taken enough damage for the day. I can't let your Senbonzakura slash me up can I?" said Minori.

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**Lana POV ( point of view)**

It's really dark in here. I think I see a large dark hooded figure. I approached the person with caution then realized that there was a small girly voice coming from the other end of the room. The two were talking rather loudly and seemed to disagree with each other.

"Senpai saysa that we need to start going on with our plan. The soner we get the girl the faster Senpai can get his new bride."

"No the soner we get the girl the sooner Senpai can get the prixe from her. I don't care about how we do it we just need to get the girl. Let's just kidnap her"

"No we eed to make her fall in love with Senpai or else she will never give him the prize."

Wait a prize that they need to get from a girl? Hmm who are they and what do they need? I wonder where I am. I could hear them walking away and talking but I felt my body open its eyes. I was still with my sister near the trainging grounds.

"Nee-san. They're back" I told my sister knowing that she knew I was talking about my power to see things that occurred in different places. I was told it was a gift where my mind could be in a different place than where my body was.

Minori-nee san told me "That's good that they're back. Did you see something?"

I shook my head and told her what I saw. She told me that it was interesting and that she would look into the vision I just had. Then we bid farewell to Kuchiki taicho and went to shower. I was supposed to be back at the second squad's headquarters while my sister had to go to her division. When I made the 2nd division under Soi Fon taicho I was very proud I bragged to my sister that I got in the Gotei 13 before she did. Even though she's actually stronger than me she's never put in much of an effort when it came to joing the Gotei.

**General POV:**

Minori left to her division and started her paperwork. She had created a routine for herself and the division. Her fukutaicho walked in and was smiling as usual before Aizen's betrayal. Over te few years Hinamori got over Aizen, with a lot of therapy and the help of her childhood friend.

"Let me guess you're coming from the 10th Division?" teased Minori.

"um how did you know Minori-san?" asked Momo.

"You always visit him before you come here. And the fact that your smiling like that shows that he makes you happy. No mater what happens he always manages to put a smile back onto your face. Even after the dance, you were in a happy daze, since he had gotten the courage to ask you to dance. Momo have you told him how you feel?"

"I can't risk my friendship with him for my feelings. What if he doesn't feel the same as me? There's just too much to risk. By the way I have to thank Matsumoto san for getting him to dance with me." Said Momo.

Just on cue came Matsumoto through the door.

"Well then you can thank me right now." She was holding a few bottles of sake and was in the mood to party. Minoti told Rangiku that if she wanted to drink she would be allowed to but that she shouldn't expect them to join her and that she couldn't get drunk.

Matsumoto drank two bottles very slowly and that was odd considering that she would sweep through at least four bottles in the two hours she was there. There was defiantly something wrong.

"Rangiku whats up? You seem rather depressed."

" I miss him. He shouldn't have left me. What an ass. He left the day after he told me he loved me. He told me he loved me but had to leave. He said that if he had to die he wanted it to be with my hands and I killed him with my own hands. I'm glad that it was me. But it still hurts. It's been nearly five years." Said Matsumoto.

"Hey Rangiku. Did you know killing him was better than letting him continue down the path towards complete evil? Did you know that it takes more love to stop one from doing wrong than it does to continue letting them do the wrong things? Just remember the good time you had with him. Remember that love is another word for sacrifice," consoled Minori.

Minori and Momo each toasted a glass of sake to never having false love and to true love. Then Rangiku down a couple more bottles of sake and hugged Momo and Minori. They walked her out of their division and Minori suggested that Momo drop Rangiku to her quarters in the 10th division. On their way to the 10th division they ran into Hisagi who was running around delivering the newest paper. Hisagi noticed that Matsumoto was a bit too heavy for the little fukutaicho Momo to carry so he helped her out. Matsumoto was all giddy and drunk so she clasped her arms around Higasi's neck and gave him a hug while he carried her back to her division.

Inside the division Hitsugaya was doing Matsumoto's paperwork, when he looked up and saw Hisagi carrying his assistant captain along with Momo walking in behind him.

"Shiro chan Matsumoto was drinking at our division so Minori san thought we should probably return her to you. She's asleep right now but she should be fine," explained Momo, while Hisagi went up to drop Ranigku to her room.

He placed her on her bed and was about to leave when she grabbed his hand and gripped it hard making it too painful to leave. He sat down next to her bed and let her loosen the grip.

While she slept he said aloud to himself, "Gin was an idiot to leave her to go with Aizen and Tousen. What the hell was going on in his mind when he thought to leave such an angel? If I was in his shoes I'd never leave her side."

After a while he got up kissed her forehead and excused himself from the two people watching his actions, Hitsugaya and Momo.

Hitsugaya had grown accostumed to watch hisagi come to Matsumoto's rescue in the past couple of years. He knew that Hisagi's little crush on her turned into something more serious and that he might be the only one who could ease his fukutaicho's pain.

**A/N: **

This was mostly a filler type chapter. It really doesn't have much Byakuya and Minori. But there was some substance in it right?


	9. Acólitos de Diablos

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach.**

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General POV:**

"Ichigo get your butt up. I can't believe your still sleeping. Get up before dad comes to beat you off the bed. Orihime-san called she said that she wants you to meet her at her place before you go to school around 7:15. Get up Ichinii," yelled Karin trying to get her brother off the bed. Ichigo shot up and pushed his sister away from him to look at the clock. It was 6:45 giving him only 30 minutes to shower, get dressed and walk over to Orihime's house. Ichigo quickly pushed his sister out the door, grabbed a towel, ran to the bathroom and stripped off his clothes before stepping in to the shower. In a record time of 15 mins he was clean and clothed. He grabbed one of Yuzu's Egg rolls and headed out the door.

"15 more minutes to reach her house," said Ichigo. He hated being late. It was one of the things that got his teenage mind steamed. As he ran to his girlfriend's house a loud beeping sound came from his backpack.

Shit not now. He took out his cell phone that was given to him by Soul Society to patrol the city for Hollows and noticed that ten hollows were heading towards the area where Orihime lived. Ten Hollows heading there.

Ichigo tossed a mod soul into his body and ran away towards the scene of the crime. As he got there he noticed that Chad, and Uryuu had already started fighting off the hollows. Orihime was also fighting.

"Ichigo what are these things?" she said to her boyfriend.

"What are you talking about? They are hollows," he replied.

"Look closely you idiot they are not regular hollows. They regenerate and they consist of millions of tiny hollow-like things," said Uryuu.

Ichigo looked and saw that Uryuu was right. The hollows consisted of multiple little creatures pulled together with some odd center. No matter how many Quincy arrows, punches from Chad, and slashes of zanpaktou were sent through the hollow it didn't die. But once Ichigo announced his Bankai the hollow-like creatures were sucked back into the dimensional portal they came out of.

Ichigo ran to Orihime who was trying to heal Chad whose right hand was bleeding but overall alright. Uryuu, Chad and Orihime headed to Orihime's apartment while Ichigo went to retrieve his body from the mod-soul. When all four of them were together they headed to school while trying to figure out what just happened.

"What do you think that new type of Hollow is? The device that Soul Society gave me picked up their rietsu's but they were totally different from what we normally fend off. On top of that there were ten of those things at one time!" said Ichigo with his hands in his uniform pockets.

"Whatever they are they are very strong. We couldn't even get one of them down. With our strength together we can get rid of half the taicho's of the Gotei 13 but not even one of these hollow-thingys. That's odd," said Uryuu.

Chad simply replied with a yes while Orihime suggested that Ichigo report this new opponent to Yamamoto taicho.

During lunch Ichigo left his body in the hands of a mod soul and his friends as he went off to Urahara's to let him know what happened.

"Interesting. Mini creatures that create the shape of a hollow but they are much stronger you say. Good. I was starting to think that things were getting boring around here after the Aizen thing. Now that this has come up things are going to start becoming more fun!" said the hat wearing store owner, Urahara.

"What the hell is wrong with you?! This isn't fun! People could get hurt or worse killed and you're saying this is fun. Don't you remember what happened last time? When we fought Aizen, my sister, Jinta, even Matsumoto almost got killed. It was horrible and now that this has come up you're saying it'll be fun?" screamed Ichigo.

"Well I guess you're right but I mean come on admit it you were getting tired of having only simple hollows to fight. As long as its not lethal why not get a few stronger opponents."

"You sound like you're from the 11th division not the former 12th division captain."

Ichigo scowled as he entered the passageway into Soul Society and headed straight to Yamamoto taicho's office. He relayed his message to him and hoped that he would have something to say about this.

Yamamoto taicho told Ichigo to watch out for the creatures and that if they came again he would send out some people to help him. Ichigo nodded then left.

**Lana POV:**

Today was really boring at the 2nd division. I haven't seen Onee-san for a while I might as well go visit her. As I walked to her division I noticed that the sky changed colors and I was in a long hallway filled with darkness. O another vision.

I followed the hallway into a dining area where the two people I saw earlier were getting thrashed by a man wearing a large amount of jewels. On the table was a rather large dinner for a single man but currently he was preoccupied with what seemed like punishing the two people in front of him.

"How dare you send the Acólitos de Diablos to the human world without my permission? Who told you to let my precious babies out in the world filled with petty humans? Aren't you supposed to bring me my wife? The one who holds…" the man was interrupted by the girl

"Senpai we sent out the Acólitos de Diablos in order to get you the mistress. It was to lead her out and get her to come fight against them. But when that orange-haired Shinigami came we decided to withdraw them. Gomen senpai for not asking you," cried the girl.

I woke up from vision to find myself on a bed in my sisters division. I looked around trying to figure out who bought me there but there was no one around. I walked down the stairs towards my sisters desk and saw her having tea with Kuchiki taicho. It seems the two of them don't mind each other's company.

For the three years that I've been a part of the 2nd division I've heard that Kuchiki taicho does nothing outside the lines of his work and responsibilities. I even heard that he hates those who are not responsible and that he is willing to take their responsibilities. In the case of his sister and fukutaicho, he attends their meetings as well. Such a mature, self reliant and accomplished person….Such a bore! Shesh what does he do besides work?

As I walked over to the two of them they looked up and Minori greeted me and asked how I felt.

I told her I had another vision and that we should talk to Yamamoto taicho as soon as possible. I described my vision to her and she sat there with a solemn look on her face. She then excused the two of us from Byakuya-sama who looked at me like I was some alien because of my visions but nonetheless let us go.

As we walked towards the captain's office we saw Ichigo walk out of there with a scowl on his face muttering something about mini hollow like creatures. He's such a funny kid really always going on about how Soul Society makes careless mistakes and never takes precautions.

Minori explained my vision to Yamamoto taicho whose eyes glistened with interest. Apparently Ichigo and his friends had just experienced a fight with ten monsters who were similar to hollows but were nothing alike. I asked if he thought if he thought those could be the Acólitos de Diablos and he said probably.

He summoned a hell butterfly and called a captain's meeting and told me to stay. Interesting I get to stay and watch a captain's meeting.

**General POV:**

As the taicho's of the Gotei 13 filed into the meeting room they looked at each other and wondered why there was a sudden meeting when everything seemed calm.

Yamamoto spoke as soon as everyone was settle and told them that there was a new enemy coming ahead. He ordered every squad to train harder and that these new enemies are stronger than Ichigo, Chad, and the Quincy put together. He also told Mayuri to keep track of all the new developments in Karakura because that's where the first sightings of the new enemy were.

He went on to say that seeing as how squad 10 had a lot of action in the past year or so he would need others to go on the trip to watch over the town. Previously he had told Minori and Lana that they would go seeing as they have the best connection with the current situation and that they should watch over Orihime because she might be the one the man in Lana's vision was after. It fit together didn't it? The new creatures were spotted at Orihime's apartment and well she did have certain characteristics that enemies of Soul Society seemed to want.

Of course Yamamoto did not say anything about Lana's visions to the Gotei 13 because he knew they would find it unreliable. But as history pointed out before the death of the Prince of Seireitei Lana's visions were very accurate. She had envisioned the death of her brother in law and had not been trusted thus leading to the death of Kinomoto.

Yamamoto had announced that Minori, Lana and Byakuya were going to head down to the human world along with Rukia, Renji and Matsumoto because they were already familiar with the human world.

Did Yamamoto taicho forget that Lana and Minori had spent a great deal of time living in the real world as part of their training with Kinomoto?

Nope because he had just told Minori to get her family's manor in the real world ready.

It surprised Minori when she heard that Rukia lived in Ichigo's closet while she stayed in the real world, especially with a brother who was such a high and mighty noble.

As the meeting ended, Minori had ordered one of her family maids that had access to the real world to clean the manor. "The manor consisted of five rooms. Meaning someone was going to have to share a bed. Uh oh. On top of that two of the rooms were connected by a very large and spacious bathroom. The problem would come when they had to decide who was going to have which room. Byakuya wouldn't want his sister sharing the bathroom with Renji and he would probably want the largest bathroom to himself," thought Minori.

As the Shinigami prepared to leave Soul Society they only took their zanpaktous and nothing else seeing as they would have to get clothes and more importantly a gigai from Urahara. It was a miracle that Yamamoto had pardoned him and Yoruichi for leaving Soul Society. It seems that they didn't run away but were ordered to be stationed there so they could watch over the real world. Like that seemed reasonable. But this wasn't the time to think about why they weren't executed.

Stepping out of the gateway to the real world, Minori felt a sense of euphoria spread over her. She hadn't been back to the real world since her honeymoon nearly fifty years ago. Weird how time travels so fast in Soul Society but in the real world it was all very slow. Not many things had changed but then again this was Karakura, a small city not large like Tokyo.

"Ah welcome Shinigami! How may this humble handsome generous man be of assistance to you?" Urahara said as he came closer to inspect the Shinigami, especially Minori and Lana.

"New to this world are you? Such pretty young lady's such as yourselves shouldn't be waiting outside of my door. Please come in," he continued grabbing Minori and Lana who helplessly went in with him.

If Byakuya wasn't raised properly he would roll his eyes at the demeanor of his former colleague.

"Kisuke-san we are here on official business. Please provide us with some gigais. I suspect you already have some made for my sister, Renji and Matsumoto fukutaichio?" said Byakuya while seating himself inside the shop.

Urahara was busy taking measurements of the two lovely ladies for their gigais. Jinta was helping Urahara when he asked if they would like to have some "adjustments" made to their gigais. Urahara took his fan and smacked him on his head.

"Baka you don't ask two of the universes best endowed women if they want enhancements. Granted they don't have Matsumoto's assets but they aren't without beauty. We will make their gigai's as they are," grinned Urahara.

After taking Byakuya's measurements they created the gigais and presented them to their masters, along with their mod-souls.

"These mod-souls are the newest that I've made. They act on the feelings and thoughts of their master. I just need a drop of your rietsu so they will fully function as individual copies of yourselves. This way when you run out to battle hollows or whatever you are battling now you don't have to give them explicit directions," he explained as Minori, Lana and Byakuya stepped into their gigais.

Minori's gigai looked exactly like her but what made the guys eyes pop out was the outfit that was placed on it. She was wearing a short skirt ending mid-thigh in a yellow color with a fitted tank top in white and lace. It was very provocative compared to what the noble normally wore. Lana's outfit was wearing a striped polo with cut off jeans. She looked decent but adorable. The normally taicho uniform clad Byakuya was out of his comfort zone dressed in a pair of jeans with a white tee paired underneath a sports coat. At least it wasn't what Renji dressed in.

As they left the shop after giving Urahara details of their findings, Minori bought up the topic of the house and rooms.

"Well I'm going to stay with Orihime-san. She needs someone to protect her especially if the new villain is after her," said Matsumoto who was probably thinking that she'd get to spend more time with her sister-like friend. In all honesty Orihime was very much like her; they liked both the same things, the same type of food, clothes and even shared the same weird ideas.

Well that solved the sharing the room problem but that left who would sleep in which room problem.

Minori posed this problem to the remaining people. Lana came up with the idea to put everyones name in a hat and then pick it out depending on each room.

Guess who got the room that was connected…

Yup

Minori and Byakuya.

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**A/N:**

Acólitos de Diablos: means Devil's Minions.

**This chapt took me so long to write because of my writer's block. Ever get to a point where you know where you wanna go but don't know how to get there? Yea thats what happened to me.**

**So a funny thing happened the other day. I studied for ever for my finals. Our Professor even let us have 6 pages of notes for the final...guess who didn't get a 100.**

**ME!**

**I only got B's... :( **

**Do colleges report grades to parents? Anyone know? **

**Let me know what you think of this chap. O and also give me some inspiration and ideas on how to get these two together...**

**Any one?**


	10. Making the Bed

**Disclaimer: I do not own Bleach. Just Minori, Lana and some ****OOC ness. O and the story.

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Byakuya was a man of his word when he said he wouldn't object to whatever decision was made from drawing the slits. It was just a bathroom nothing more. It's not like he would have to share a room, a bed, or anything else with Minori. Plus it was only suitable that the two eldest would have the best rooms and bathrooms.

As fate would have it the house was still a mess because the maid that Minori sent to clean didn't do such a good job. At least it was mid afternoon so they would have a decent amount of time to fix up the house and get dinner started. The house did have food and other staples such as pillows, sheets, pots and pans. Minori assigned each person a job. Renji ended up having to clean all of the bathrooms; Rukia took over the two bedrooms, while Lana had another two bedrooms. Minori was a bit apprehensive assigning Byakuya work.

"Um Byakuya Sama. Everyone is helping clean the house. I'm sorry that my maid didn't do such a good job but it would be nice if you could um…help us clean it a bit. It would make it easier on us. I completely understand if this is something that you wish not to do. Seeing as you are a noble and well not really suited for cleaning," she said.

"Hn. I will be in my room," Byakuya replied.

He looked at Minori who had pulled her hair back and started cleaning the kitchen. Byakuya wondered how a girl of such high upbringing could know how to clean a kitchen. He also wondered how their family had acquired such a manor in the living world. It was interesting how he never thought of getting one when his sister spent so much time with that Kurosaki kid. At least he didn't have to worry about his sister and that boy in a relationship; he had some faith in Renji.

He would have loved to help well not really love but tried to help but he didn't know how to clean. He never spent his time analyzing his servants or reading up on cleaning. But being the stubborn perfectionist he was he decided to help out. He did not want people thinking that he was an ingrate towards the two girls who let him and his sister stay at their house.

Byakuya went into his room and grabbed some dusting clothes and started using them on the hard surfaces. He had enough sense to know that they were to remove dust. He had opened the windows while dusting so he could have fresh air in his room. Once he finished dusting he looked over to the bed and realized that it had no sheets on it. He opened the pack that was placed on the bed and took out a fitted sheet, a loose sheet, and two pillow covers. He found the pillow covers were easy to place where as he was having difficulty deciding which of the sheets to put on first. So he did what he could. He started placing the loose sheet first then let the stretchy part of the fitted sheet sit comfortably on the loose sheet hugging the mattress. Clearly this is not working, thought Byakuya.

He heard a stifled chuckle at the door of his room. Minori stood there with her hands over her mouth trying not to break down in laughter at the sight of seeing _the Byakuya_ having such a hard time with bed sheets.

She came up to him and softly took his hands off the sheets. She then took off the sheets, replacing the fitted on the bottom with the loose sheet on top. After fixing the sheets she set off to place the comforter properly on the bed followed by the pillows. She then walked into the closet and came out with at least ten other pillows. There were of the decorative type, matching with the color of the walls, a light brownish red. After setting the bed, she looked over at Byakuya and smiled.

"That was such a cute sight. Seeing you flustered over sheets was something I would have never imagined," she said. Byakuya just watched her leave but while she headed out the door, she heard a soft thank you in what was the man's voice.

Minori headed back to the kitchen after she checked up on Byakuya. She grabbed a chair so she could stand tall enough to clean the shelves on top. As she was scrubbing the top, Byakuya came in to help clean the living room. Well to actually dust the living room. It seems that he grew an attachment to dusting and wanted to dust any surface he could. (You know sometimes dusting can get addicting lol) The kitchen was open on two sides, with one side leading into the living room while the other led into the dining room. Minori put in some more elbow grease into cleaning the top shelves, when the chair started wobbling. She focused some more on keeping balanced but when she reached back up one of the legs on the chair broke. Minori, not having enough time to support herself, braced for impact with the floor. But it didn't come. She landed in a soft embrace from Byakuya who still clutched his dusting clothes. Apparently playing tag with Yoruichi as a kid helped his speed a lot. He walked her over to the living room and placed her on the couch which he had set up properly. Then he continued to clean up, seemingly forgetting how he just saved her from colliding with the floor. He wasn't being arrogant he was just being himself, not one to take charity nor one to give charity.

"She had helped me in the bedroom and I had helped her now," thought Byakuya.

Little did the two of them know that someone had purposely loosened the leg of the chair? Rukia had borrowed the chair to clean her assigned two rooms and was coming to return the chair when Lana caught hold of her. They both had planned something similar to this. Lana had told her to loosen the leg of the chair so her sister could use it to climb to the top. She also went to tell Byakuya Sama if he could help clean the living room. That way he could be close by when Minori fell.

The two girls giggled at the success of their plan. It seemed that the head of the Kuchiki clan was very quick indeed and helped out Minori just before she hit the ground. But being the stoic person he was he didn't say anything about it. The two girls were hoping that Minori would say something or else they would have to interrupt.

Thankfully their hopes were fulfilled, but only a bit.

"Thank you Byakuya sama. It seems that you are always here to catch me when I fall-from either a chair or second story. I feel like a burden that which always lands in your safety. If it's not too much trouble could you perhaps teach me how to move that quickly?" That was all that was said.

Minori finished cleaning the kitchen and started on dinner. Then she left to set the dining room. As she returned she noticed that the living room was spotless and that all the decorations such as pillows and candles were in place.

"Hm it seems that Byakuya has god taste in décor," thought Minori.

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XxX

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Back in Soul Society, a short old man with a beard that graced the floor stood with his staff while talking to the elders of the Kuchiki clan.

"Was it a good idea to send Byakuya out into the real world when he has to find a wife sometime soon?" asked one of the elders whose eyes were slit like.

"This mission might take them a while. We only have 10 months for him to choose a wife or else he will have to be wed to one of our choice," said another elder.

"Yamamoto-taicho you know our predicament. We need someone to carry out the Kuchiki clan. If Byakuya does not return safely then how shall our clan survive?" asked one of the youngest elders.

"I hope you are not challenging my authority over my captains. I do know what I am doing. There is no reason for you to worry. There was a reason as to why I sent Kuchiki taicho along with the Hinamashi girls. Even if you were to look into one of the noble families for a suitable match you would have surely picked one of them. I assure you that I have everything in control," said the bearded old man, Yamamoto taicho.

As the elders looked reluctant Yamamoto summoned a screen and started showing a series of events. From the Spring Ball to the current household situations. It seems that the two of them were getting along quite well.

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XxX

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As the day went along the house became sparkling. Dinner was quick but sufficient. Sleep was much needed but the Hinamashi sisters had other responsibilities.

They needed to get used to their gigais. So the girls went upstairs to the secret roof top training room. It was a subdivision such as the one in Urahara's basement. Except that this one had gardens as well as training fields. It was gift to Minori from the King one her one year anniversary with Kinomoto.

They practiced movement in their gigais not by sparring against each other but by doing dances. Ballet, jazz and other gymnastic influenced dance. This way their body could stretch and be flexible. It had been nearly two hours since they first started and now they were perfectly comfortable with their bodies.

Minori headed to her room to sleep but next door Byakuya lay awake on his bed. He had chronic insomnia. Ever since Hisana died he was not able to sleep properly, most nights he would spend in his Chinese Bellflower garden but tonight he was unable to be there. It was a sacrifice he was willing to make to follow orders. He decided to get up and take a shower. He wasn't in the mode for a bath, plus he didn't like how the tub was close to Minori's room. As he walked into the bathroom, he noticed that the tub was already filled with flowers and bubbles in it. He remembered how Minori told him she liked to keep it filled because it reminded her of lakes and ponds with the flowers floating in them. Byakuya stepped out of his clothes and turned on the shower, letting the warm water cover his muscled body. The shower was very silent and the door kept any noises from coming in or going out. Because it was a noble's bathroom it had two sinks, a shower, and a separate tub, along with a modern toilet. Further than that there was also a small vanity area with male's wardrobe and a female's wardrobe. The towels were embroidered with gold, this time each with either an M or B for Minori and Byakuya.

As Byakuya was drenching in the shower he thought about the recent events in his life. How he had that meeting with the elders, the Spring ball, his sister's boyfriend news, this recent mission, and Minori. Somehow everything he thought about had her involved. For some reason when he was thinking about the deadline he was given to find a wife, and all the potential wives Minori's face blinded his vision. He shook his head to get rid of that image and rinsed off the soap from his body. As he opened the door to the shower stall he grabbed a towel and heard the draining of water from the tub.

Stepping fully out of the shower he turned to the tub, only to see a dripping wet Minori covered in a towel. Thankfully the mirrored wall on the opposite end of the tub and shower was covered in steam and Minori had her head down while trying to wrap a towel around her long brown hair. Byakuya stood still drowning in the image of a wet Minori.

"Are you sure you want to stay here while she's looking like this? You would be called a pervert and that might reach the elders. Are you willing to risk your title to look at this site?" said Senbonzakura snapping Byakuya back into reality.

He shunpoed his way out of there before Minori turned her head up from tying her hair in a towel. Of course she didn't catch him but saw that his clothes were still hanging in the bathroom. As she got dressed in a light night gown, she couldn't help but think whether the clothes were there before or not.

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XxX

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**A/N:**

**Thanks for the reviews and help! **

**Thanks Bloody-Ribbon for giving me the idea of a bathroom scene.**

**Rukia death Kuchiki: I will have a person trying to pull them apart, but it won't be Rukia. Although I would have taken that idea but I already wrote before that she likes them as a couple. I have someone else planned to take that spot. I think this person will be more interesting. She'll be coming in a few chapters…**

**Sakura Fuyu: thanks for the information. Yay for my parents not finding out!**

**R&R...**I don't know if I'll be able to write again this week. Too many events.


	11. Chef Byakuya

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN BLEACH OR ITS CHARACTERS**.

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**General POV:**

Byakuya woke up the next morning feeling slightly uneasy about approaching Minori because of what he saw last night. He had rushed back into his room without grabbing his clothes and changed into a new pair of pajamas. Somehow he managed to avoid Minori when she came into his room to place his clothes in his closet. Her hair was still wet from her bath but she was now dressed. Byakuya knew that if he made even the slightest move she would know that he was in the shower at the same time she was in the bath.

That would cause a great amount of unnecessary trouble.

As Byakuya met everyone outside in the kitchen for breakfast Minori spoke.

" I was thinking that we should have Ichigo, Orihime, Uryuu and Sado over today along with Urahara to discuss the new hollows in detail. If everyone was together it would be easier to understand the issue at hand," she said.

"I was also thinking of inviting them over for dinner in order to talk to them," she finished.

"Na onee-chan you just like to cook and feed people," announced Lana while giving her older sister a jab in the stomach.

"That seems like a great idea Minori. I think Renji and I will go invite everyone over. Can you guys handle the other work?" suggested Rukia. She wanted to spend as much time as possible with Renji before they needed to get serious about fighting.

As Rukia and Renji left, Minori and Lana started getting the house ready for the mini party that was happening that night. Minori started to cook and Lana decorated the house. Byakuya helped where ever he could but mostly kept to himself.

While Minori was cooking, Lana went out after cleaning the house to help get some things for the gathering. Minori however did not know of this.

She fixed all of the dishes and left them to slowly simmer on the stove. They needed to be kept on low heat a few more minutes. The guests would be arriving in a few hours and Minori still had to get ready, but she couldn't leave the pots and pans on the stove unattended.

"Lana! Can you please watch the stove while I go shower? Turn it off in about ten minutes or so," Minori yelled hoping that Lana would respond. But Lana didn't respond, rather it was Byakuya who answered.

"Minori-san Lana went out a few minutes ago. If you want I'll watch the stove. As you said I will turn it off in ten minutes exactly. You may go on with your preparations," suggested Byakuya. Minori told him to make sure to turn it off in ten minutes no more than that or else all of the dishes would be ruined.

Minori rushed off into her room and started laying out the outfit and everything else she would need as she came out of the bathroom. She stepped into the bath and took care of her business. Meanwhile Byakuya went to turn off the stove exactly ten minutes after Minori instructed him to do so. He turned the knob to off and walked away. What he didn't check was if the knob said off or high.

Poor Byakuya turned the knob to high instead of off and in a matter of minutes the entire kitchen and living room, where Byakuya was sitting, was covered in smoke. Byakuya ran to the kitchen, in his gallant style, and realized that all of Minori's hard work went to waste. He had burnt all of the food.

He paced around the kitchen trying to figure out what to do. There was no way she could make all of the food again. There was no time and she was still in the bathroom. There was no possible way he would want to be caught trying to get her out of the bathroom, especially with what happened last night.

He had to figure out if the food was still edible, or at least see what she had made. He picked up a spoon took off the lid of the first pot and tasted the burnt concoction. Suddenly his face scrunched and he raced for a glass of water. There was no way he would do that again EVER in his life. The sour burnt taste of miso soup filled his taste buds and he intended to soak them out with endless glasses of water. Byakuya looked around the kitchen and saw that there was a list on the fridge. Minori had written down what dishes and courses she was going to serve. She was simply prepared. She had the ingredients and the procedure for making the dishes on the list.

Byakuya hurried and grabbed the ingredients out of the cupboards. He was going to try and cook up the dishes. He took out the beans and boiled them, while taking out the ramen and cooked those too. Next he tried to cut the chicken into thin strips. That didn't work he was sure how thick or thin they had to be. He tried to sauté the vegetables and chicken in a wok along with soy sauce, only to have it splash at him. Thankfully he was wearing a cooking apron. This was not working out. He only had a half hour before everyone was expected to come and Minori would be out of the bathroom. Not good. Wiping the soy sauce and other ingredients off of him he started to think.

He had to think of a way out of this. Then an idea struck him. The night they reached Karakura, Renji had said something about a restaurant that he went to while he stayed in town before. What was the name of it? Akas…Akashi…Akashitu yea that was it. Akashitu Fine dining. Byakuya would just have to go down there and order whatever Minori had made and replace it. Byakuya grabbed the list off the fridge, took his keys and money and headed out the door towards the restaurant.

Once he got there, it was very simple. He would give them the list and they would give him the trays with the food. In a matter of less than half an hour, Byakuya had the food delivered to the manor. By the time Byakuya came back Minori was in her room getting dressed. Renji and Rukia were back and getting ready as well. Lana would be coming in with Orihime and Matsumoto. Byakuya rushed to clean up the pots and discard the burnt food before placing the new food in them.

"Byakuya sama did you turn off the stove when I asked you to?" asked Minori. Phew she came in right after Byakuya was done.

"Hai. Everything is ready," said Byakuya. Minori walked over to the stove and started to put everything into the fancier dishes. She noticed that some of the meals were different textures than when she made them.

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DING DONG. Minori placed the dishes on the table then walked over to the door. Everyone was there entering one by one. 

Minori sat them down and asked for an explanation of everything. Uryuu was the one who did the most talking, seeing as how he was the best explainer in the group.

"Uryuu-san, so basically those monsters were undefeatable?" asked Lana. She seemed very irritable about how he always talked like he was perfect and knew everything.

"Yeah we couldn't land a single blow to them. They didn't seem to harm us much and they didn't seem to damage any buildings," he replied. He apparently picked up the tone that Lana used. He'd have to ask her why she was upset with him later. After the dance they had gotten along seemly well. Well besides from the fact that they still argued relentlessly.

Minori spoke up finally after a few moments of silence.

"This was a plot to lure out a female. We believe that someone may be after Orihime-san again. This was the main reason we were sent here to investigate. Those hollow like creatures are very strong. We will have to train and find a way to destroy them. Everyone will need to think constantly about the attackers and will need to be on the alert," she stated.

With that said she got up and smiled, "Well now that we got business done, it's time for dinner."

Byakuya sweat dropped sensing that it was time for dinner. He was especially nervous because he wondered if Minori or anyone else for that matter would be able taste the difference.

Minori served each person the courses and everyone ate in praise. Byakuya kept glancing at Minro to see if she could taste the difference.

Yoruichi noticed the connection in between the two and glanced over to Urahara. She was definetly not liking the staring contest between Minori and Byakuya. Who was this girl anyway that she even dared to lock eyes with _her_ friend? No matter how laid back Yoruichi was she still didn't like this girl who seemed to be getting rather close to Byakuya. The main reason being was that Yoruichi was very close to Hisana when she was alive. Byakuya introduced Hisana to her first because she was his best friend, whether he admitted it or not, along with Ukitake. Somehow Yoruichi felt that Byakuya was betraying his Hisana when he looked at any other woman. Yes Yoruichi understood that he was a man, that he had needs, and that he was the most eligible bachelor in all of Soul Society, but still that didn't give him the right to tear out Hisana's heart from his chest. No way would she allow him to do that. Hisana couldn't be forgotten that easily.

Minori locked eyes on Byakuya and asked him what he thought of the dinner.

"Very good." He said and kept a straight face.

Lucky for Byakuya no one seemed to realize the difference.

* * *

As the night ended everyone complimented the dinner while heading out the door. Urahara asked them to keep in contact and to come back if they needed any help with the gigais. Minori thanked him and then proceeded to clean off the table. 

Lana walked Uryuu out the door because he asked her to.

"Lana-san what's wrong? You seem very upset with me today," Uryuu said while pushing his glasses higher up on his face. Honestly he didn't know how he got so involved with the Shinigami. The only reason he went to the dinner was because this new enemy might be after his friend Orihime. And also because he wanted to see Lana again- though he would never admit that to himself or anyone else.

"You're so stuck up you know that? You think you're so smart and that you are better than us Shinigami Mr. Ishida. It's so frustrating. Even at the dance you behaved like that. There's no way you're even close to being humble," she replied while glaring at him. Ouch that hurt.

Uryuu turned to face her and look at her before continuing.

"Listen Shinigami, we, Quincy, have been massacred and harassed for countless years by your lot. You're the ones who think you're better than us. You're the ones who experiment on us; you're the ones who don't behave kindly towards those who are not your type. You go on thinking that I'm stuck up and that I think I am not humble. In fact you're the one who isn't humble shoving around you're nobility everywhere," said an angry Uryuu before storming off.

Lana was stunned, frozen with shock. She had no idea that the Gotei 13 had done such things. It wasn't a long time since she was in it; she was sheltered from everything being third in line for the position of heiress to the clan. There was no way she would have known all of this. She hurried her pace to catch up to the Quincy who used his Hirenkyaku to be out of sight. She knew that he would probably stroll around the park. That's where he was always-with a shopping bag, roaming the park. Lana shunpoed over there and found him sitting on the park bench.

"I'm sorry," she said right before taking him face in her hands and kissing him. There was no way her sister was going to let her live this one down. There was no way his father would let him be with her, but right now it didn't matter. Right now this was right.

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Minori was cleaning up the mess the guests had left while Byakuya was in the bathroom. Once he was out and she was done cleaning, she entered the bath. Apparently Byakuya was really keen on locking both doors when he was in the bathroom. Minori entered the bathroom and got dressed for bed. She brushed her gigai's teeth and washed its face. Byakuya knocked on the bathroom door, stating that he needed to get his towel; Minori opened the door, all the while brushing her teeth. 

Byakuya grabbed his towel and turned to walk out the door, but it was shut. He pulled on its knob but it didn't budge. He walked over to Minori's door but it too didn't budge. There was something wrong. Minori finished her ritual and walked to open the door but she couldn't open it either. It wasn't locked or anything. It just wouldn't open. Uh oh it was stuck.

Even in their Shinigami forms, they couldn't walk through doors etc, they weren't able to diffuse through solid objects. It was no use they were stuck.

Byakuya's face turned red as he realized he would be stuck in the same bathroom where he saw Minori naked the other night. Minori turned to him and smiled then said, "Well I guess we're sleeping in here tonight until someone comes to open these doors."

Apparently she had some extra pillows in her wardrobe. She handed Byakuya one and took one herself. She headed over to the bath tub and placed it there before motioning Byakuya to join her if he wanted to sleep. There was no way he would sleep in a bathtub, especially the one where he saw _her_ bathing. The bathtub was big enough for the two of them but he still felt uncomfortable. Before she slept she stated one thing to Byakuya.

"By the way, you could have told me about dinner. You did a good job getting it from a restaurant but you should have told me the truth that it burnt. I wouldn't have gotten that angry. O well maybe next time you'll get to taste what I make. Goodnight Byakuya-sama," she said. She knew that she hadn't made the food, even though it was the same dishes. Byakuya sighed and felt quite embarrassed.

Sleep came sooner rather than later to Byakuya so he gave up his pride and apprehension and slept in the tub along side of Minori.

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Outside the door in a room two doors down, laughter and chuckling could be heard between a red head and a raven head. Some whispers about melting a doorknob was always heard. But not by Minori or Byakuya, but by Lana who simply smiled to herself while touching her lips ever so softly. Nothing could ruin this day.

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**A/N:**

Whoa Renji and Rukia locked them in the bathroom. I actually have a plot for the story, but its not full of romance. And yes Yoruichi's a bit upset with Byakuya...its gonna get worse though.

**Thanks for the reviews and the helpful ideas. Keep them coming please. **

**I'm really not good at all the fluffy stuff in relationships. **

**SakuraFuyu: this is the thing i was talking about when I said he'd have to make some sort of confusing decision at the Starbucks like scenerio you gave me. hope it lived up to your expectations.**

**I wanted to get this chapter out last Thursday for Toshiro's b-day but I didn't have it finished. O well Happy b-lated b-day Shiro-chan. **

**Happy Holidays! **

**(I could still use more ideas for fluffy romantic ness.)**


	12. Spying and pictures

**Bleach does not belong to me. Nor do the characters in it. **

**Please correct me if I'm wrong with anything.**

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The next morning found Byakuya and Minori snuggled close to each other in the bathtub, while a towel was shoved up the faucet. Although it was relatively comfortable the night did not go as planned in the tub. After the two of them fell asleep the tub suddenly decided to drip water waking them up and getting them wet. Minori took the nearest towel and shoved it up the faucet to stop the dripping but by then the two of them were wearing wet pants which are not very comfortable to sleep in.

Byakuya cursed who ever locked them in the bathroom and shuffled to avoid the wet spots in his pants while Minori just casually took off her pajama bottoms and proceeded to sleep in her boy shorts.

'Great another step closer to how I initially saw her in this bathroom, this is quite possibly the worst thing that could happen to me today,' he thought. Byakuya had woken up first to the feel of Minori's hair in his face and her leg casually thrown over his own. He moved her around so they wouldn't be as close and started heading toward the door to try and open it again. It was still stuck. He sighed and tried to break the lock open. It was incontinently melted or something like that by use of a kido. Byakuya was furious but still maintained his composure because once he got out he was going to go bankai on who ever locked him in here. He missed the comfort of a bed and a pillow that was his own. Minori woke up after a while and tried to open the door also. They both failed and then decided that they would replace the door after breaking it down.

Minori changed into her Shinigami form as did Byakuya. They both called upon their swords and slashed through the doors connecting into their bedroom. Byakuya did something unconventional for the noble; he plopped down face first on his bed and just lay there without focusing on his appearance. Minori went to grab her clothes and ran into the shower warning Byakuya that both doors were open and not to walk in on her. He had already seen her bathing before, but she didn't know that.

After a few minutes of recuperating the two of them headed to where the rest of their families plus Renji were.

"So how did you two sleep last night?" ask a pouting and innocent looking Rukia while exchanging glances with her boyfriend.

"O just splendid actually. My bed was so comfortable last night and I slept like a baby. Except for the fact that someone had jammed the bathroom doors locked," replied Minori sarcastically until the exception.

"I wonder who would have the audacity to play around like that. Surely they would know that trapping two nobles and captains in a bathroom would attract a great deal of pain and trouble," said Byakuya eyeing everyone in the room.

"Don't look at me. I wasn't home until much later last night. I didn't do anything," said Lana, who nodded her head to the side indicating that she wanted to talk to her sister some.

Byakuya gave his sister and her boyfriend a well deserved lecture for locking him in a bathroom of all things. Meanwhile, Minori headed over to her sister's room to ask why she came home late last night.

* * *

--XXxxXX--

* * *

"Onee-san last night I had another vision. Right after I came home from walking Uryuu out," said Lana. 

**FLASH BACK (**in Lana's pov)

I was sitting in a bedroom lit by candles. The décor was very old and yet seemed to be gently used. Over to the side of the room I noticed there was a table with some papers on it. It turned out that the papers were pictures. I scanned through them to get an idea of whom or what lived here or what was going on. Instead I was greeted by the familiar faces of my friends, and sister. These pictures were from the dinner the other night. Most of them were of my sister and Orihime. So they were after Orihime. First at her house, now they have pictures of her. I heard someone coming in the room and quickly found a hiding space. I knew no one could see me because I wasn't physically or spiritually there. That was a beauty of my power. I could touch and see things while no one could touch or see me. But they could sense my reitsu, so I had to mask it.

The leader came in a sat on his bed after taking the pictures with him. This was the first time I had seen his face fully. He was young around my sister's age. He had long silver hair with dark blue eyes. His nose was a bit crooked but his lips made up for that because they were full and supple. I leaned in closer to listen to what he was whispering to himself.

"I will have you no matter what. You can't hide from me and nothing can protect you from me." The man lay on his bed clutching the pictures to his chest until his two subordinates came into the room.

"Master we are ready to deploy more Acólitos de Diablos to get the girl. We were thinking to go down there ourselves and bring her back." They told their master.

"Deploy the Acólitos de Diablos but don't head out as yourselves. Stay down there in a different form and then head out get the girl. Make sure no one sees you. After all there are very powerful Shinigami there and I don't think you both can handle captain class and that Representative by yourselves. Make sure they are fully distracted before you head off and get the girl," said the man.

With that I noticed that the room turned black and I was back outside on the bench where I had sat with Uryuu.

**END FLASHBACK**

"So you see one-san I think they are planning on attacking really soon. We need to train harder and up the protection for Orihime. Also I think we need to report this to Yamamoto-taicho," said Lana.

"Yes your right. I'll tell Ichigo to stay with Matsumoto and Orihime. Also if you want to go then you should go as well. The more people that are there to protect her, the better it is. Byakuya, Rukia, Renji and I will stand guard over the city for these creatures. We need to protect other innocents as well as Orihime," said Minori while reaching into her bag to get the cell phone that was supplied by Seireitei.

She called Yamamoto and filled him in on Lana's vision. Yamamoto agreed with Minori's plan. So as soon as Minori hung up she went into the living room to report the new information to the rest of Shinigami. Lana immediately headed over to Ichigo's house and grabbed him out towards Orihime's place. After dropping him there she headed over to Uryuu's and told him about the goings on's.

Renji and Rukia decided to team up and cover one part of town while they suggested that Byakuya and Minori cover the other part.

"No, Byakuya and I will cover the other part of town while _she_ can keep an overview of everything by moving around," said a naked black cat entering from the window.

"That sounds about right. I'll move around so I can keep everyone updated," said Minori hoping that Yoruichi was not going to change into human form in her living room.

"Well since everyone will be separated and splitting up I think you should use these. They are locaters and walkie talky like things so you can keep in touch," said Urahara creeping behind Yoruichi who unfortunately was now a very naked woman sitting on Minori's couch. Renji cringed and turned around while Rukia smiled inwardly at her boyfriend. If he hadn't turned around then he was in for a beating. Byakuya on the other hand went to his room and came out with a robe to give his childhood friend. Urahara just laughed because he was quite used to seeing his girlfriend naked. He shook his head at her when she suggested assisting Byakuya instead of letting Minori do it. He knew she didn't like her but he at least thought she should give Minori a chance to prove that she was worth Byakuya's attention. Yoruichi just thought that Hisana deserved better than that, that she deserved to be remembered for a long time and not merely pushed aside for some _Minori._

Yoruichi was close friends with Hisana during her time. She spent nearly every day playing with her, annoying the elders and teasing her about her love for the stuck up nobleman. Yoruichi didn't know that Hisana asked Byakuya to find her sister; in fact she didn't even know that she had a sister to begin with. And she didn't know about the second request.

"Bya-boo you've seen me naked since we were kids. Don't tell me it bothers you. We better get going and start our patrols it's getting dark soon and fighting those hollows, what did you say they are called, Acólitos de Diablos, will be hard," said Yoruichi pulling on the robe.

Minori rolled her eyes and headed out the door. No one had gone to inform Chad and decided that he would like to be a part of the action as well.

**

* * *

**

**A/N:**

**I know this is shorter than the rest of my chapters but the next chapter is going to have a fight. It'll take me a while to write because I have school starting soon. Fight scenes are very difficult to write, so I'll try my best.**

**Yes Yoruichi is going to try and stop the two of them from working together. Urahara and she have a secret.**

**The Acólitos de Diablos leader is a young man and I'll explain more about him later on.**

**I checked my stats the other day and I have thousands of hits but only 17 reviews. (Let me get at least 6 reviews for this chap and i'll give out the next one to you) **

**Am I that bad at writing that no one leaves reviews? People just know that they help, especially me. **

**Thanks to those who reviewed and alerted my story! **

**Happy New Year!**


	13. Shino and Haruhi

**Disclaimer: Do not own Bleach or its characters.**

**These are getting shorter and shorter aren't they? O well I'm running out of inspiration of this story. I am in love with my Kakashi story. Sry to those who are still reading. Thank you for sticking through with this. **

_italics are thoughts._**  
**

* * *

Yoruichi was bouncing off the rooftops with Byakuya trailing slowly behind her. She was trying to catch him in a game of tag but he wasn't complying. His thoughts were not allowing him to participate and quite honestly he didn't feel like it.

_So why would they need Orihime? What is the meaning of trying to kidnap her now when there are so many Shinigami close by? It would have been easier to take her during the first invasion when they were winning again Kurosaki and the others. Something here doesn't make sense. None of us have been against __the Acolitos de Diablos. __We don't know how to battle them. _

"Byakuya, snap out of the silly trance you're in," said Yoruichi.

"I was not in a trance mind you. I was trying to figure out how to defeat these creatures that we might have to face tonight," replied Byakuya.

"I was wondering how we know to trust those two girls. I mean have you ever heard of people, spirits or anyone ever having the power to see the happenings of somewhere else. It's not like time travelling or even being a Shinigami. It's so much different. What if they are making it up? It's not like we know them well enough to trust them," said Yoruichi while slowing down to walk beside Byakuya.

"If Yamamoto taicho trusts them then we should too."

"Well we all know that the old man isn't the sanest person in the universe. I mean he did trust Aizen and Gin without suspicion. For all we know this could be a plan to get us preoccupied with this while they are planning to attack somewhere else," question Yoruichi.

"Do not speak about Commander-General like that. No one would have guessed that Aizen and Gin would do such lowly deeds. For now we know that these Acolitos de Diablos are real since Kurosaki and his friends have tried to fight them before. As long as we defeat them and try to get more information about them, we are fine," he said gruffly.

* * *

**XxXxX**

Not so far away Minori was keeping watch over the town. She was using shunpo to make sure everything was alright. According to her sister they were planning on attack tonight so she would have to make sure that Orihime was very safe.

Orihime's power was interesting to many. She didn't have it until a run-in with a hollow, her brother, and her current boyfriend, Ichigo. Many believe that it was a power that was triggered by Ichigo and that she would have never had it if she hadn't been influenced by Ichigo's rietsu. Minori thought otherwise though. She thought that Orihime would have eventually gotten her powers if she became a Shinigami after death. She thought this because Orihime was living in Karakura, a hot spot for hollows and other evil souls. Orihime would be able to open her powers as a Shinigami. Minori thought that the powers of her Rikki would probably become the powers of her zanpaktou. So right now it would be very important to protect her, because her power would help reject anything that the villains would want. That was what Aizen wanted before also.

Minori stopped in front of building where Orihime lived. Not sensing any evil or trouble nearby, she walked away to the other part of town. It was weird that no civilians were out. The thing that was weirder than that was the drastic weather change. It went from a nice clear night to a cloudy tiresome night. Seemed like the quiet before the beginning of a storm.

Minori sat on a rooftop on the other side of town from Orihime's apartment. She knew it would only take her a few moments to get there and that this was the only part of town that no one was watching. She closed her eyes and started to feel around for rietsu or any type of energy but she found nothing.

Back where Byakuya and Yoruichi were there was a small rift in the sky above them. The rift kept getting larger and larger but it was still unnoticed by the two of them. Suddenly three large Acolitos de Diablos stepped out of the rift gaining their attention. But they were too far away. The closest person was Minori. She immediately ripped out her zanpaktou, which in its sealed form was a vial of sand, and released it. The glass shikai reflected off the minute amount of moonlight available and attracted the attention of the Acolitos de Diablos. Minori swore she could see greed and hunger in its eyes.

Jumping up she looked for the opening Uryuu had mentioned the previous night. Realizing that the moshpit of hollows was rushing towards her she decided to take it away from Orihime's house and from harming the public. Making sure that the Acolitos was following her, she headed toward a secluded hill far away from the public and Orihime.

The Acolitos lunged at Minori and grabbed her by the hair. Dangling from nearly a 100 feet, Minori struggled to use her zanpaktou but couldn't maneuver her arms to hit the demon. Apparently the demon decided to use Minori as a yo-yo and was bouncing her up and down. A tear escaped Minori's eye while she felt her hair rip out of her scalp. Frustrated she did the only thing she could; she took her zanpaktou and ran it through her hair. The long brown locks were now Frustrated she did the only thing she could; she took her zanpaktou and ran it through her hair. The long brown locks were now short and rather uneven. She sighed and ran in zigzags to confuse her opponent. Having a quick conversation with Kinomoto she came to the conclusion she would have to use his zanpaktou's power to blow away the individual hollows and strike the center weak point.

* * *

**XxXxX**

Ichigo wandered through Orihime's fridge to find something that wasn't rainbow colored or smelt like gym socks to eat. He knew his girlfriend was a bit experimental with her food but that was just because she had gone through a long amount of time in her life alone and without good nutrition. Now she had Ichigo and he would make sure that she ate food that was not only edible but tasted normal too. Ichigo told Yuzu how _different _Orihime's cooking style was and Yuzu volunteered to help teach her how to cook.

Oh how Ichigo thanked God for giving him his sister when he found the sushi and rice.

Chad sat on the couch meditating as Orihime swung her legs up and down while trying to solve a puzzle. As Ichigo walked back into the room he thought his girl looked absolutely adorable. But something about this peaceful atmosphere was bugging Ichigo. Lana had said that tonight was the night those creeps would try to abduct his love again. Ichigo scowled at the thought of losing his love again. If he had to he would protect her by giving up his life and soul.

Chad felt an odd stir of rietsu flash through him. There was something wrong. He couldn't recognize that rietsu as one of the captains of Shinigami he knew.

"Yo Ichigo. I think there's something going on outside. Maybe one of us should check it out," he told Ichigo getting up to investigate.

"Chad, sit down. If something happens here we'll need the two of us to protect Orihime. I would ask Matsumoto-san to help but she's drunk and asleep. How about we send Kon here to check it out?" replied Ichigo stuffing a mod soul candy into the body of a plushy bear.

"Ichiiiigoooo. O my, it's the Princess of Heavenly Valleys Orihime-nee-san," screamed Kon while running over to smash himself in between Orihime's breasts.

"You hentai. That's **MY** girlfriend keep your dirty paws, claws or whatever those things are off of her," said Ichigo smacking Kon into the nearest wall.

"Kuso. What did you need from me? I was resting you know

"Go out and search for the new rietsu that Chad felt and let us know if you see anything suspicious or a fight."

* * *

**XxXxX**

**"**Ishida-kun, I'm sorry for the kiss the other day. It was out of line for me. I shouldn't have done that," said Lana watching over the Urahara shop vicinity.

"Lana, stop it. If that kiss was a mistake then I'm the one who should be blamed for it, not you. But coming from me, the social outcast, that kiss was meant to be. Ever since that night at the ball I've wanted to kiss you. Too bad you have more guts than me to put actions behind words," said Uryuu playing with the rietsu threads looking for abnormal activity.

Just as Lana was going to kiss Uryuu once more he found two abnormal rietsu heading toward them.

"Ah so this is where the love birds reside," said the small girl. Lana knew instantly that these were the two she saw in her visions, the girl and the hooded boy.

"Oi shut up. We have work to do not, time to waste," said the boy.

Lana looked over to Uryuu and let him know that these were the two trying to kidnap that girl in her visions.

"Who are you and why have you sent those hollow-like creatures to ruin our peace," said Uryuu drawing out his Quincy bow and arrow all the while Lana grabbed the hilt of her zanpaktou.

"Well well Quincy boy, since we're feeling gracious today we'll let you know."

"My name is Shino and this here is my sister Haruhi. We are her to bring our King his bride. We sent those Acolitos de Diablos to draw out the Shinigami and our Queen. You girl, you look like our Queen. You must be her sister," said the hooded boy.

The boy jumped down and darkness engulfed Lana.

Lana gasped for breath but there was no air. In the dark she called out for help.

* * *

**xXxXxXxXx**

Minori ran up the Acolito avoiding anything and everything that could grab. Using her wind powers she separated the mini hollows from the core body. Using her zanpaktou she started slashing her way to the core but failed miserably.

The Acolitos core was covered by its hollows. Minori couldn't use both her powers at the same time. She thought about slashing as many hollows she could before they ran back to the main body.

It wasn't working. There had to be something, somehow, someone that could shop up the multiple hollows while Minori kept them apart and struck the center...

Her answer came in the shape of thousands of tiny sakura petals slashing around her.


	14. Kidnapped

All that Minori could see around her was a covering of pink petals. She had tried her hardest to fight against the Acolito but her hardest wasn't enough to win against it.

The sakura petals surrounded Minori and protected her from the last blow the Acolito had delivered. She was being protected by those petals and somehow felt a deep connection to them. Once the petals had returned her to the ground, Minori opened her eyes and saw her savior. There in front of her stood Byakuya in all his regal glory.

Minori had to admit he looked best on the fighting grounds. His shiny hair flowed behind him while his broad shoulders leading to the very hands that held the shaft for his Zanpaktou. The sakura petals realigned themselves into the shaft of the sword while Byakuya looked over at Minori.

Minori stood up and held her zanpaktou in her right hand before yelling over to Byakuya.

"We need to separate the individual hollows from the body of the Acolito. It uses the spirit power of all the hollows and combines them, making it impossible to find a weakness for it. But I figured out that the center of the Acolito is his weakness. The Acolito has the most hollows guarding that specific spot. I'm going to use Kinomoto to break apart the hollows but I will need your help to slash through the opening with Senbonzakura," Minori requested.

Byakuya looked at the woman in astonishment. The woman wanted him to follow her directions but she had done so without degrading him or making a demand of him. He found this interesting but he would have to think about this later as the Acolito had charged toward them again.

Minori released her zanpaktou, "Blow Kinomoto!"

Byakuya watched as Minori drifted the Acolito apart. He saw the way the wind drifted the hollows away from the center of the power source. But before he could send Senbonzakura's blades to the Acolitos' center, the hollows came back together.

Minori looked as Byakuya struggled to slash through the hollows that quickly regrouped around the power source. It took her a moment then she realized that she could call on Kinomoto to create earth barriers between the individual hollows and the Acolitos' power source.

Once again Minori commanded her zanpaktou to blow apart the wind. She only had a few seconds but that was all she needed to erect a powerful earth barrier between the hollows and the power source. As the hollows became separated, Byakuya watched his fellow captain straining to keep herself stable.

He took his cue and sent Senbonzakura to slash through the Acolito's center. His blades bypassed the individual hollows and slaughtered the power source of the Acolitos.

Just as Minori had said the Acolito broke apart into the thousands of individual hollows that it consisted of. No longer was there one enemy using the power of thousands of hollows, but now they could fight each hollow individually without worrying about it rejuvenating.

Yoruichi jumped into the fight as well when she saw that Byakuya and Minori couldn't handle the fight.

**

* * *

xXx**

Kon gasped as he saw the thousands of Hollows attacking the three taichos. He knew that even with their powerful reitsus they couldn't defeat the hollows. Having the most powerful reitsus didn't mean that they had more stamina and resilience than other Shiningamis.

He had to get someone to help them.

Kon ran back to Orihime's apartment. He didn't know where to find anyone else. If Byakuya and Minori failed to defeat the hollows then all of Karakura town would become dust.

Kon pushed the door open and grabbed Chad out of the room. He yelled and shocked Ichigo and Orihime away from each other.

Within a minute all three of them were back at the scene where the hollows were battling against the thousands of hollows. But before they could do anything, all the hollows had been cleared out. Both Byakuya and Minori stood in the middle of the battle ground victorious as one by one the hollows are disappeared as spirit particles.

Orihime ran over to Minori and asked her what happened. Minori smiled as she told Orihime and the boys what happened.

"The Acolitos turned out to be thousands of hollows surrounding a power source. Byakuya and I worked together to separate the hollows and allow a direct attack on the power source. But if Byakuya wasn't here to help me, the Acolitos would have taken me hostage or killed me," Minori said. She then turned to Byakuya and bowed deeply as a sign of gratitude.

Orihime suggested that since everyone was safe and that it was night time that everyone head back to their homes to go to bed. Ichigo and Orihime left together while Kon followed them quickly afterwards. Byakuya and Minori walked home while Renji and Rukia had decided to patrol around Karakura for a little while longer.

Once they were alone, Byakuya asked Minori why she didn't use the powers that she was given by the prince of Seireitei. Minori answered by saying, "Each captain has a cap on the amount of power and reitsu they can release in the human world. For me I have a cap on the amount of reitsu that can be released at all times. If I stood beside you and released my reitsu at full force then you would no longer be alive let alone capable of being turned into spirit dust."

Byakuya pondered on that for a while until they reached home. He too had a cap on his powers but that didn't mean that he wasn't capable of drawing out the powers that were useful in a battle. Sure, Minori was strong and had a lot of reitsu but at the early stage of battle she needs to be prepared.

When the two of them reached home they noticed that the suite was rather quiet. Minori had expected her sister and Uryuu to be back home by now. She hadn't seen them on the way home nor had she seen them at the scene where the Acolitos were destroyed.

"Byakuya, by any chance have you seen my sister and Uryuu? They should have been home already," Minori asked.

"I hadn't seen them since this morning when we left for patrols. I'm sure they are safe. The Quincy is quite capable of taking care of your sister and himself," Byakuya replied.

Still uneasy, Minori decided to listen to Byakuya and allow her sister some more time to get home. She went to the joined bath and decided to soak away all the stress the fighting had put on her body.

She knew that it wasn't the actual fight that had her exhausted. The tiring part was trying to keep her body stable while using Kinomoto's power. She had practiced for many years on how to hide and lower the amount of reitsu she released but that didn't mean she was perfect at concealing her reitsu while in battle.

Thankfully Minori still had the locket that would help her.

**

* * *

xXx**

Byakuya closed his eyes for a moment. He listened to the silence outside of his bedroom window. In the distance he could hear the water of Minori's bath. There was something calming about being here in Karakura with Minori.

Byakuya recalled the events of the past few hours. Things had changed quickly in the past couple of days. For once, Byakuya welcomed that change.

**

* * *

xXx**

Uryuu woke with a slight headache. He was confused for a while as to why he was in the middle of a park bench by himself.

He recalled that he and Lana were on patrol on this side of town. He also remembered how Lana was so close to kissing him again. He could feel his cheeks tint again but suddenly he remembered that Lana had been kidnapped by Shino and Haruhi.

Uryuu got up and ran as fast as he could to the Hinamashi suite. He had to let everyone know that the bad guys were after Minori not Orihime, and that they had kidnapped Lana.

* * *

**Author's Note: **Has it really been like two years? wow

I apologize. Please review!! I promise to write one more chapter before I go on vacation in June


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